Livin' the Dream
by w3ardo
Summary: My life is just beautiful right now. Not only was I kidnapped by a psycho on my way home from a field trip, but I somehow arrived in a magical land without modern weaponry; my friends and I are separated and forced to join their military. Some lady has "natural" pink hair. Oh God, please save me- someone pinch me, I believe I'm dreaming.
1. Karma is Not On My Side

Today is expected to be boss. I am pleased to enlighten you that today is the long-awaited field trip that the physics and AP physics students take annually: the Massachusetts Six Flags (just cuz the New York one isn't as bad ass and we in central Mass).

I can save the panicking sweat drops of homework, tests and projects for another day because the most important thing right now is answering my eternal debate: to take a sweater, or to freeze to death? Seriously, the weather here never fails to mind-boggle me.

Take 3 years ago for example: they fucking canceled freaking Halloween because it snowed. Drum roll please... and we didn't have a snow day.

Yeah. Exactly.

Moving on... I decided to take a sweater so my friends don't complain about my complaining. Speaking of friends I should turn my phone on (another story for another day).

Stepping over my book filled backpack; I walked over to my purse/messenger bag and slipped it over my shoulder.

Phone? In pocket.

Wallet? In purse.

Keys? Next to wallet.

Anything else... Crap, do I have my iPod and camera? Tugging my bag open, I picked up my wallet and found said objects under it. Oh thank God.

The rest is boring and irrelevant. Yes, as much I want to share the more private and intimate times of my morning routine, I feel that it'd bore you seeing as everyone has a similar one. Yes, I know, you hate me and are mentally yelling at me. This is the face of someone who, at the moment, does not care. And let me spare you the happenings of this field trip. I mean a Six Flags in Mass is a Six Flags in NY, isn't it? (only they don't entirely have all the same rides)

I feel bad, but I don't give a shit if you think this is "unacceptable" or not. This is my story, and imma mention/exclude everything I want to.

Damn, I apologize for my PMSing, no one should have to listen to me ramble like that. Once again, I'm sorry.

Moving on...

So the field trip was just as bad ass as expected. We're currently traveling home via bus and I'm sitting with my best friend since middle school talking about who knows what when THE BUS DRIVER SLAMS THE BREAKS!

AHHH!

OH MY GOD, IMMA DIE! (tear)

My face hits the seat in front of me, leaving my nose aching while Steph's (best friend) face and nose shove its way into my upper back and neck.

Guess what? Her mother fucking glasses break and magically become lodged inside my flesh. Fantastic.

I scream.

"Is everyone alright?"

I don't bother answering I'm just focused on counting to ten.

One. It hurts, shit.

Two. Something's dripping down my shirt, oh damn it.

Three. I hope I didn't poop myself.

Four. The pressure of Steph's face is disappearing off my back.

Five. The noise from around me ceases.

6 (I'm getting lazy and starting to black out

7. Pressure on my back reappears. The hell?

8. My face off seat. Huh?

9. Neck gets cold.

Ten. Metal against my ba-

"WHO THE HELL IS TOUCHING ME?!" I jolted up. I see my hands shaking slightly.

Eyes wide, I take a couple of milliseconds to look around. Steph has the bottom of her shirt pressed against her face and I notice that even though her eyes are like slits, I know her eyes are ok (oh thank God, that bitch ain't gonna hear the end of it).

I see Mrs. Senko with scissors in her hand, sitting next to me and since when has Steph been standing? She says something, and me being death, I go "huh?"

Ignoring her, I look around once more. Just about every other person has something pressed to their face (probably from the blood that escaped due to the shock of inertia and the sudden stop). I could be the worst off with glass stuck inside my back. Beautiful.

Next is probably Steph. With her no longer usable glasses she's nearly legally blind, and right now her life definitely sucks more than mine does at the moment.

I look out the window, over the seat and through the windshield and see a crash site about 100 feet from us. We barely dodged it. Gorgeousness.

Someone touches my shoulder. Flinching, eyes wide, I look and see Mrs. Senko. Her short auburn hair almost matches the blood on her face. Her eyes are wide, and eyebrows furrowed. Is she worried? I decide to turn and now face her...

HOLY CRAP IT HURTS!

"Oh my God," I moan. My head goes down and my dark hair covers my face.

"Shhh. Honey, you ok?" she asks, her heavy Albanian accent easily noticed. Why the hell did she call me "honey?" And why the fuck, should I be ok when I have glass inside my back? I just grunt. "I will just cut your shirt slightly to look and see how deep your wounds are, ok?"

"Uh," I manage.

"Don't worry, Stephanie will stand here and make sure no one sees, alright?" Why is she explaining herself? I made a noise to tell her I was processing the information... 'Kay then. I hope she knows Steph can't see without her glasses.

"Go ahead Mrs."

Placing both my hands on top of the blood stains my nose left, slow, deep breaths escape me as I try to calm myself and forget about the resurfacing pain.

Mrs. Senko delicately holds the collar of my shirt with one hand, and a pair of scissors with the other. I'm attempting to focus my, now failing me, gaze onto my fingers nails

They're nice fingers. I have 10, 5 on each hand. My hands and fingers are small, stubbly and round white people fingers. They're not painted because I can't stand the look on these small stubs of nail. A freckle is on my left thumb and, oh God it feels like we're moving. I look to my right. Yep, moving.

"Mrs?" I interrupt her.

"Yes"

Why are we moving?"

She freezes and I can feel her hand (now on my shoulder) stiffen. I imagine her glancing outside, over my shoulder, her eyes wide.

"Oh lord."

"What?"

"Honey, don't move, I'll be back." Does she not remember my name?

I look to the left, and watch her leave. Steph then replaces her spot while pushing a strand of her weave out of her large almond-shaped and colored eyes, allowing me to see that adorable round nose of hers.

"Hey."

"Sup," I nodded, then wince. "You do realize this is your fault." I pointed backwards.

"I would head slap you right now, but there are 2 things preventing me. 1, you're injured," I smirk, "and 2, I can't fuck see you dude. Oh and are you ok, because, like I said, I have no way to know."

"Yes Steph, I have freaking glass in my back and I'm just dandy."

"Good to know." She just flashes me that innocent smile that I swear looks exactly like :D. It's not the same without that frame on her nose though, imma have to settle. "And of course this" gestures to back," would happen to you." I only nod in agreement. "Dude, are you nodding because I can just picture it."

"Yep."

"Good to know I'm not hallucinating."

"But Steph, we've been through this! How many times have we agreed that you're impossibly insane?"

She laughs manically and I flinch (then wince). It always gets me- that laugh.

"True dude. Hey, is it me, or are we moving?"

"Slightly."

I look up and through the windshield. We're now in the emergency lane passing the furthest damaged vehicle. I can limp faster than the speed we're going at. Now we're past the crash site, but we're, for some reason, still in the emergency lane. I shift my gaze and see Mrs. Senko interrogating the bus driver.

Bringing me back to reality, I hear: "Dude, you good?"

"Huh?" I said.

"I said 'You good?'"

"What?"

"Are you ok?!"

"Why are we moving?" I whisper.

"You've got to speak up."

"WHY THE FUCK ARE WE MOVING!?"

"Seriously? We have to go home some time."

"No, there was a mother fucking crash 100 feet in front of us; we were almost in it; we're not only freaking witnesses, but we also need an ambulance thanks you yours truly. Shouldn't we wait for the police? Shouldn't the bus driver tell his company of said crash?!" I rambled on until I was out of breath.

She just sat there. Then, all I hear is "Sir, you have to stop this bus! We have an injured student!"

Everyone just openly stares at Mrs. Senko while I look in back. Shit, the other bus isn't following.

Now facing Senko again, I see she's waiving her arms all over the place trying her best to get the man to stop.

Nope. Just the opposite happens- he speeds up instantaneously and as my back hits the seat I gasp. I can feel the glass digging deeper into my back.

"Oh shit. Shit. Damn it." Eyes closed, I focus on the colors you see when your eyes are closed too tight together. Yellow, blue, purple white (and of course black).

"Hey," pause. "Dude? Want me to find someone to pull it out?" Before I respond she cut me off. "Never mind, I don't want it to get infected. Um... Do you need anything?" I can picture her smiling sheepishly.

"Uh," I took a moment to think. "Nope, I'm fine."

"Don't make me throw your normal words back at your face."

"What?"

"Are you really just 'fine'?"

"We'll apart from having something lodged inside my flesh, m golden." I opened my eyes and genuinely grinned at her.

She sighed . "You're too stubborn-"

"For my own good," I finish. "I know, we've been through this how many times?"

"Too many."

"Exactly." I'm still smiling when I chuckle.

Returning my attention to Senko, I see she's gone completely bonkers. (Nice use of the English dictionary.) Her whole face is red and she's clearly pissing this man off. Then I come to the attention of something dire: we're traveling south when we should be going west. We're leaving Mass and either entering Connecticut or Rhode Island. I could just sigh exasperatingly and pinch the bridge of my nose at Mrs. Senko's actions, I won't. Why? Well, because I've realized that we're being kidnapped.

"Steph?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know where my bag is? I don't see it here?"

"Um." She got up and I saw my bag laying there quietly on the ground.

"Thanks, I found it."

She sits back down while I start to look through it. Pulling everything out, I groan when I don't see my desired object. I shove it all back in and pull it back out again just to make sure I'm not seeing things. Then I stand up and search my jeans. Left, nope. Right? Ah ha! I slide my phone out of the pocket and smile triumphantly Steph just acts like she can see and knows what I'm doing.

Sitting down, I unlock the screen and dial the most famous and most dialed number in America.

"Hello, 911, how may I help you?" The operator has a smooth, voice with an almost southern accent, but not exactly.

"Yes, I'm in the middle of being kidnapped?" I state calmly. I duck my head so you can't see it over the seat.

A pause. "Where are you?" she asks.

I glance outside. "I think we're on the Mass Pike traveling southbound."

"How many people are there with you?"

"A bus full of students, 2 teacher chaperons and the bus driver."

"Anyone else- who's kidnapping you?"

"The driver- we're coming home from Six Flags and there was a crash where we were almost involved, some of us are slightly injured from the abrupt slam on the breaks. We live in Worcester, but as I already mentioned, we're traveling south as opposed to west. Right now we're entering an exit with a sign attached saying 'to Providence.'"

Its quiet for a moment as she records my information. "Do you know anything else about your current location?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure we're still on the Mass side of the border."

"Can you give me a description of the driver?"

I turn my head and body so my phone is only visible to the people on the back of the bus, then slowly look over the seat. The driver is completely ignoring Mrs. Senko, and now the other physics teacher is trying to convince her to just sit and calm down. "

The driver has this weird head band on. It's a black ribbon tied at the back of his head and even though he only looks to be at most 35, his hair is graying and unkempt. He's unbelievable dark, possibly the darkest man I've ever seen. He has a loose black leather jacket that's bulky and designed to follow the military trend." I tell her. I can't make out that much more because he's turned away from me and Mrs. Senko is standing in the way. Nice job Mrs.

I quickly tuck my head back out of view and listen to the operator. "Alright. I'm tracking your movements now and I've just dispatched the police and an ambulance should follow."

"Thank you." I smiled. We jerked to another (more subtle) stop and I dropped my phone. Cursing, I look up to see Mrs. Senko's face pressed against the windshield. Oh my God.

"Mrs!" I scream. A kid from my class and the other physics teacher quickly jump to help her. When they pull her up and I see she's ok, I sigh in relief and go search for my phone.

Reaching down, I ignore the breath taking pain erupting from my back and pat the ground. Damn. I then somersault myself into this awkward position where my face is against the seat, now the bruised noise is disturbing me, and my legs are almost not completely on top of Steph's. Behind? No. In front? I lean forward, it's there! Yay!

Karma is just not on my side today. Just as I get my stubbly little fingers around my phone, the bus crashes into something and I almost completely slide under the seat. Fantastic.

Why couldn't I just ask the kids in front of me to get the damn phone for me? Because I'm stupid, that's why. Don't question it. It's just the way things are. It's fate.

After pushing a pair of legs out of my way, I hear glass shattering. I quickly army crawl and pull myself out from under the seat and ass the situation: everyone is screaming and flipping out (so much for staying calm and rational). I look out the broken windshield, oh my God, the psycho drove us of a fucking bridge!

**And I thank you for clicking and reading my story. :) I apologize for the cliff hanger, but I really had no idea as to where else to end this chapter.  
****All opinions are appreciated because well, I live in a country with freedom of speech. Bye. :)**


	2. I Saw You First

Well shit. He drove of a fucking bridge. I look back, and see Steph frantically searching for something, unsuccessfully, might I add. I shove my way into the isle and sprint to her just as the bus enters the water. The force of hitting said water sends us flying over the seats towards the middle of the bus.

She can't swim. (Either that or she just obviously sucks at it.)

The bus, now fully submerged, is filling at light speed as I attach my hand to my best friend's forearm.

I assume someone opened the back emergency exit because the water is filling even faster now. Actually, it just so happens I'm not able to tread water any more because the bus is completely filled. I can't open my eyes underwater.

Steph can't swim. Fuck.

Still clawing her arm, I swim to the top of the bus and run my free hand along the ceiling of the bus for another emergency exit. When I find it, I realize I don't know how to open it. Shit.

I can feel Steph already growing limp beside me. Oh God, I'm running out of air too.

I pull, lift, then just push. Anything to open this goddamn door. My lungs burn; back stings; nose aches. I ram the shoulder with the free hand into the exit and, finally, it opens. I shove Steph in front of me, and after I'm through I start to pull us to the surface.

Air. I need air- we need air. No, why am I slowing down? Fuck. I can't die. Steph said she's not allowed to die- Sherlock's new season, Avengers 2, what were those other shows and movies? Can't remember, lack of oxygen interfering.

My grip on her is loosening. Shit. How deep is this fucking water? Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Come on, don't black out. No matter what, don't you dare black out. I stop moving- my muscles don't agree with me anymore.

Now I just float to the surface. We're just on our way up there. Sorry Steph.

I let go of her just as my body hits the surface, the air. The thing is, I don't know that O2 is available to me; all I know is that it's just so cold. So very damn cold. Where's my sweater?

Something warm wraps around me. I reach, cling to it. It's so damn warm- this thing, whatever it is.

I hear a noise. Is it talking to me? God, Jesus, is that you? Am I supposed to see the light even though my eyes are closed? Like those colors you see when your eyes are shut too tight?

Whatever.

Oh shit my back! Why does it hurt? Should I know why? Don't remember- I can't remember. Stupid lack of oxygen. I'm cold again. Ahh. Pressure on my chest. What is it? Oh good, its gon- never mind. Something warm on my mouth. It's traveling through it and into my lungs. What's it called again?

Air. It's freaking AIR.

I need that!

Coughing out water, my throat turns dry and I sit up. I rub my eyes, then slowly open them.

On my left, kneeling in the water is the kid who helped Senko. I know him, can't remember his name. Calm yourself. Just need some oxygen in that brain, that's all. Eric? No. Issac, that's his name. He's always looked like an Eric.

Did he just save my life?

Looking at him, I throw that question away immediately. 'Course he did, he's sitting right next to you- he's the only one near you.

"Issac?" My voice is raspy. How lovely.

"Humph?" His chocolate eyes poor into mine. I hate how he does that.

"Thanks." I nodded.

"No problem." He stands us and does his best to get the sand of his damp jeans. Once done, he extends his hand to me; I take it, letting him pull me up.

"I owe you.'

"No. You don't, it's the thought that counts." Hes funny if he thinks that smile will work on me this time.

"But still! Its going to bother me!" I tell him as I begin to copy his previous movements- who knew it'd be so hard brushing sand off wet clothes? He takes the liberty to brush some off my back. I flinched and quickly slap his hand away. "Don't!" I hissed at him.

He looks at me; an eyebrow raised. I sigh. "Steph's glasses found themselves inside my back. He made a noise, followed by a face and quickly apologizes. "How is she, Steph? Scratch that, how's everyone?"

He sighed. "Not everyone made it out, hell, we barely survived impact." He points around. "I counted 17."

I use my pointing finger and roughly count 20, including Issac and myself. I recounted, still 19. Someone doesn't know how to count.

"Damn."

Then he was like, "Yeah. We were going pretty fast."

"What happened?" He gives me a what-the-fuck look. "I was under the seat."

Not dropping the look, he says that after the psycho slammed on the breaks the last time, he went full speed onto a bridge only to realize there was a road block. Of course. When he realized he couldn't pass, he decided the most logical thing would be to drive off of said bridge. Then he punched the windshield into pieces (ow) and escaped.

Issac was then like, "I myself pushed Mrs. Senko out of the bus while it was in midair to save us from the trouble of maneuvering ourselves out when it was water-filled. I- I didn't know she couldn't swim.

"After realizing she was unconscious, I pulled her out of the water and attempted CPR. Then, I saw you; I saved you; I then repeated my CPR session." He says.

"Mrs. Senko's ashore? She didn't make it?" That makes 18.

His nod was solemn. I hope I didn't strike a nerve. "Yeah." Yep, a nerve was severed. It sucks to have such a guilty conscious.

I took the liberty to look around again. Some people were talking, others were just laying there. "Any idea where we are?"

"Naw, but Kim's working on that now."

"Where is she?"

His tan finger pointed to a figure farthest from the shore, almost at the entrance of the forest. I pointed to it and he nodded in confirmation. I took a couple steps towards her, only to be stopped by Issac grabbing my arm.

"Don't bother," he says; I raised my eyebrows at his nonchalant tone. "You've known her as long as I have.

No denying that- the more focused on something, the _nicer_ she gets. Its her way of getting you to leave her alone. How nice.

I shrugged him off and head for my Asian companion. I forced myself to not examine my surroundings- it's the only sanity I have left.

Upon reaching her, I look down at her for several minutes. After hearing a snarly "What?" I sit down next to her.

Extending my legs out in front of me, I put all my weight onto my palms and straighten my back. After a quiet hiss, I throw my head back and sneak a glance at her.

Her long, silky (and I mean I'd just love to have it made into a shirt), midnight black hair fans out onto the sand and frames her long face. The eyes that're so dark pupils are nonexistent are fixated onto the small cellular device she's holding up in front of her. I reach out to grab said phone and examine it only to be slapped at with a "Bitch go away." Isn't she just the perfect kindergarten teacher?

Sighing, I raised an eyebrow and just look at her.

"Status report?" I finally say.

With a pout she goes, "The status can go fuck itself." I giggled instantaneously while she just sat up and threw her arms into the air with an exasperated sigh.

"What's wrong babe?"

"No battery." I remained silent and did my best to look understanding even though I knew my eyebrows are probably furrowed. "None of them have battery." She gestured to the mountain pile of phones on her right.

"What?"

"Uh-huh."

"Don't you charge your phone every night? Wait, does anyone have any rice?!"

I look around only to receive a plentiful amount of stares asking me if I was serious or not. Meanwhile, Kim just dies of laughter. Thinking she's been at it enough, I shoot daggers at her.

"Not funny," I say.

"Oh Yes. Yes it is." She told me after calming herself.

"Look at that," I pouted.

"Huh?"

"I made you loose your focus."

She smiled, "Uh-huh. You sure did."

I throw my head back and look up into the sky. It's dark and cloudy. "It's going to rain," I tell her.

I see a hand in my face and take it. The speaker, Kim, says "We should find shelter."

"Civilization would be nice too," I added.

We spent the next 5 minutes gathering everyone up and preparing a plan.

"'Kay so we need a game plan," I say. Pointing to the forest opposite us the shore, I add, "Has anyone seen slash know of a forest around our east coast line?" No response. "'Kay, well. Um..." My gaze shifts to the sand and I begin to wring out the water from my hair.

"We should have a leader." I look up and notice Steph missing. Probably peeing. With a look to the left, I see the speaker, Issac, with a hand in the air for attention.

_We'll do just fine without one._

"Good idea. But does everyone know everyone?" Sam pointed out.

"We can learn," Jenny states flatly. She pulled her glasses off her shirt collar and slid them onto her nose.

"Wouldn't that take long?" I turn to see Kevin. As much as I want to smile, I keep my face passive.

"We have time to kill," Jenny told him.

Seriously? I fought to stop a groan. If they wanted to waste precious time until death of dehydration, they can be my guest. It it comes down to it, I can convince Steph and Kim to sneak off. We'd probably live longer.

"Now wait." My eyes meet mossy ones. "Does everyone agree?" Sam asked.

My eyes widen. Did he just read my mind? His gaze locks onto mine, and I begin to panic inside. _Nod if you can hear my thoughts_. He doesn't move. I let out a breath, my thoughts are safe.

During my panic attack, everyone basically already accepted the idea. "Well that settles things," Mou says. "I nominate-" Sam slams his hand over Mou's big lips and mouth.

"Jo didn't say anything." All attention is immediately poured onto me. Thanks Sam. "Wa'cha think Jo?"

My face inflames instantly. What the hell? My opinion doesn't matter. I'm 1 person, what difference can I make? "I don't care." They'll think I'm stupid. Honestly, how can there not be a leader?

"Don't lie Jo," Issac warns, his gaze narrow. Fuck, he's known me too long. "You suck at it." That too.

"A leader," pause, "is overrated."

Issac cocks his head and furrows his eyebrows. Kim smiles and Sam's suppressing a chuckle. Contrasting, Jenny's daggers really could kill me.

"Why's that?" asks Kevin.

"Yeah, shouldn't it help with decision making?" I don't know this kid; I think he's a senior.

I clear my throat and use my feet to doodle in the sand. "We'll argue regardless if there's a leader or not.

"No one completely slash always agrees with someone else. It makes us unique individuals." I lock my gaze with Kim.

"Well, what do you propose then?" Jenny says.

"A republic."

"A democratic republic?"

"No, let's not reference America. Everyone would get a vote, like in a republic, and we'd count. Which ever has the most wins. No representatives needed." I looked around then. "Since there's an even number, I don't mind passing on the vote."

"Jo, 17's an odd number." Issac explains slowly.

I gawked at him. Of course 17 isn't even, 18 is. I then proceed to recount everyone. 17, including myself. I counted again, the same result- what?

Wait, Steph didn't come back from her supposed bathroom break... Am I sure she went pee?

I twirl around; move around; step in between people. Where's my best friend?

"What're you doing?" Zack's voice.

"Where's Steph?"

Silence.

Issac breaks it. "She didn't make it."

I whip myself to face him. He's funny. "I took her to the surface. But I brought her to the freaking surface- where the air is!" I'm about to pull my hair out.

"She drowned- didn't get out fast enough. It's-"

"What about me?!" I screamed. "You brought me to land and not her! Why?" I whispered the last word.

He took a deep, steady breath, and was like "Because Jo, you're the one I saw first."

I processed this. "Where is she now?"

"I brought her to shore." Zack again. He pointed to the water's edge. Without thinking, I broke out into a full out sprint over towards her. My knees buried themselves in the sand as my eyes scanned her.

Touching her forehead, I flinched back quickly- she's just so damn cold. She's possibly the palest I've even seen a little black girl look, a little too serene for my taste (it doesn't look like her).

Hell no, Steph. You said, told me, you couldn't die until Sherlock, Dr. Who, Avengers 3, Iron Man 4, your British shows and the new movies! Shit. This isn't the first promise you've broken you know- you said we'd chill tomorrow.

I check her pulse. My hands are wrapping themselves around my roots as a tear sneaks out. More soon follow the wide open door. I feel an arm go around my shoulder.

I just loose it. I'll spare you the ugliness of this sob. To make it simple: it's too damn depressing and I'd rather not talk about it right now. All you need to know was that I cried for at least 20 minutes straight, no time to come back and take a breath. Issac held me until sometime in the middle Kim appeared and shoved him off me, now forced to share. I'm still sad. After calming myself, and after a couple minutes of just sitting there, I realized something.

Not everyone made it out of that water- she's not the only one lost.

I then proceeded to shake uncontrollably due to my freezing body temperature. I then cried again. Its not her turn anymore. I cried for Mrs. Senko, and everyone else that came to an unfortunate end.

"That asshole of a mother fucking buss driver," I whispered. "Did you see h8im Issac?"

"Naw, Jo, it's not worth it."

"Since when was I that kind of person?"

He chuckled and was like "Never- you don't have the balls to do it."

"Do I look like a man?"

"No, no you don't," Kim says.

"I hope not," I chuckled.

"Come on." Issac stood up; then pulled my up to my feet. He knows me the best (next to Steph); he's known me the longest.

Tearing my gaze off the ground, I see Kim's now standing in front of me.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah babe, even though the baby is gone and was atheist, doesn't mean you should be. I mean you go this," She gestured to herself.

I chucked, and she smiles while linking our arms. "We should bury her."

So then we all get onto all fours and dig a grave in the sand. Let me just say I now love shovels. Moving on, after we placed her a couple feet under, we pushed all the sand on top of her. Issac said some words (his dad being a pastor and all also kind of helped) to help her soul. Once done, we found Mrs. Senko and did the same thing.

After all that business, Kim re-linked our arms and we headed for the rest of the kids. When we reached them, Jenny was the first to speak. "We talked it over, and your idea makes sense."

I just look at her. "Thanks. Um, ok. Well can I suggest what our first course of action is?" my voice almost nonexistent.

"Yes, you may."

"Well a human being can only survive 72 hours without water, don't ask how I know that, I just do. I'd assume we've been here for more or less half an hour."

"Right, plus the short bus ride and the time elapsed after you threw away the soda you most likely bought could most certainly add up to even an hour depending." Thanks for cutting me off Jenny.

"Precisely. Who knows how long it'll take to find water for that matter."

"So we should split into 2 teams. One to make camp, another to search for water," Zack suggests combing his fingers through his 'fro.

Then Kevin's like, "That sounds like a good idea."

If I was in the mood, I'd roll my eyes. "No, not really."

"And why not?" Zack crosses his arms over his chest.

I released an exasperated sigh, "Because, " I paused, "How do you expect team 2 to bring the water back to team 1? Ok, they can show them where it is, but what if they can't find it or don't remember. Team 1 could accidentally die." Zack pouts at his loss. "And anyway, like I said, who knows how long it could take."

"So what does Ms. Perfect suggest?" Jenny taunts. Why the hell does she sound so pissed off? She's such a child, "Ms. Perfect." Seriously?

"How 'bout we all go together?" Kim put her hand on my shoulder. I love this girl- she has the best timing.

"Why Kim, that's a perfect idea." Another attempted smile, but it comes out more authentic than the previous one.

Then she whispers so only I could hear, "Why thank you Jo, I am very delighted to receive a compliment from you," She bowed slightly.

Oh God. I put my hand over my mouth, she's just too much. I glance at Jenny discretely, and she's shooting daggers at me. Someone doesn't like me. Whatever. Kim smiles at lightening my mood.

"Yeah Kim, that sounds perfect." See, Sam heard my implied solution. I'm not that un-understandable.

Why sighing in defeated way, Jenny agrees and we do a vote. Group search it is.

Kim links her arm with mine and she pulls me towards the forest singing "We're off to see the Wizard" off key, at the top of her lungs. I smile softly, and yeah, its genuine.

* * *

"Can we stop to take a break?" Kim, Issac and I stop mid stride and turn around (we were at the front because everyone else was a pussy to go first in unknown land) to see Kevin struggling to catch his breath. Poor kid, we've been walking, hiking, for hours. He must've really needed a break for a while now.

"Who else wants a break?" Issac. 10 hands shot up into the air. Break it is.

"Guys, I don't think we should continue today. Its gotten dark, and the sky was extremely cloudy earlier," Kim says.

"Fine," Jenny breathed, "I'm fine with that."

"Should we make a fire?" Mou asks. Where is he? I hear some rustling to the left me, and turn to see him standing next to Issac. Mou's dark skin tone completely contrast with Issac's light tan one. How could I have not seen him?

"And how do you propose that?" Jenny's recovered. She must not go on walks often.

"With wood?" He raised an eyebrow, just asking her to enlighten him.

"How're you going to light it?"

He thought for a moment, accepting her challenge. After putting a finger on his chin, he spoke, "The friction of two rocks."

"Its not hot enough. You'd need a specific type of rock to do that. The name of it escapes me now, but I'm pretty damn sure I didn't see it on the way here."

"Well do you want to freeze to death?" An unknown voice.

"Nothing we can do about it." She crosses her arms. "We'll just have to huddle together for warmth and hope for the best."

"I'm fine with that." I jump. When did Sam appear behind me, I swear to God he was at the back of the group. Then again, my assumptions have been rather sucky lately. He chuckled then whispered to me,"Scared Jo? I can protect you."

"Where the hell did you come from?"

"My mother's womb."

"Real smart."

"I know right?" He chuckled. Because he's a good head taller than me, he has this ability to rest his head on my shoulder. My back is still to him.

"You have a big head." I shook him off.

"You like? I'm extremely proud of it- this head." I rolled my eyes.

* * *

_I'm falling._

_There's something wrapped around my arm. I look, and I see Steph, her hand is wrapped around my forearm._

_I screamed- we were heading at an almost death defying speed towards the Earth. I look at her again for her reaction, and I see her say something, but I can't hear her._

_We're only feet from the ground now, and I brace myself for death. This is it._

_Only it isn't._

_We dive face first into salt water. I somehow open my eyes and look around me. Everything's so blue. Its vast nothingness. Like what Nemo saw before he was kidnapped. Where's Steph? I don't see her- the nothingness is in the way. Did she abandon me?_

_I swim up to the surface, now low on air. I reach out, expecting my hand to hit air, but it doesn't- it meets glass._

_I attempt to smash the glass. I thrash, push, then try punching it. All to no avail, even though I did my best to destroy it, nothing works._

_I can't break it._

_Air. I need that._

"Jo."

I wake up covered in sweat.

I hiss as I sit up. Damn back. I make a mental note to get someone to pull the glass out later; I don't want my skin to grow over it. I slowly open my eyes as I stand up.

We're surrounded_._

My eyes grow wide; I'm speechless.

"I've been calling you for the past 5 minutes Jo," Kim whispers from behind me.

One of them yells at us- they saw us talking. I have know idea what language it is. One come us to Kim and I and separates us- he put his knife in between us and Kim immediately backs off, away from me. I hiss, that damn knife hit my wound.

I look at the man. He looks to be in his 30s, and he's maybe an inch taller shorter me. I'm 5'7. He looks to be wearing some type of Japanese feudal clothes that I've seen in my freshman year world history book. Imma say this now, I watched a lot of anime, this gibberish they're speaking, sounds nothing like Japanese. Either that or I just haven't watched enough. That being said, I'll go with the latter for simplicity.

How the hell could we have crossed the ocean to another continent on the other side of the freaking world? The man begins to look at me warily. Maybe he thinks I'm coming up with an escape plan. He's funny- I'm too much of a wuss for that (and I couldn't think of abandoning anyone for my selfishness, its just not me.)

I put my hands up to show peace. I'm guessing they've never seen the gesture and they start screaming at each other. I rapidly put my hands down and keep myself on my toes.

I whimper at the sudden movement- my wound, conveniently located on my upper back in between my shoulder blades, has now reopened. Beautiful. I can feel the blood slowly dripping down my back. Its sticky. Everyone's eyes are on me. Awesome.

"Kim," I say.

"Uh-huh?"

"Scratch at my back."

"Huh, Why?" The man warns us again, his knife pointed at me.

"You need to open my wound; get me bleeding."

"No! I-"

"They'll see the wound, and if they're human, they'll feel bad, see we mean no harm and help it-" The knife is swung at my face and I make a noise as it scrapes against my left cheek. I fall onto the ground after tripping over the rock and loosing mt balance.

"Jo!" Issac yelled.

"Do it." I mouthed to her.

She frowned. I know she wouldn't, it was worth a shot. I stretched my arm and touched my shoulder, then slid it under my shirt and picked at my skin until I felt enough blood flowing out.

I gasped, and instantly squeezed my eyes shut. I then stood up and reached my other hand through the bottom of my shirt and slid it up. I quickly tried to pull a piece of glass out. Once successful, I extended my hand with the glass towards them and opened said hand. With the other hand, I lifted up the back of my shit so my flesh was available to to wind's torture. I kept my eyes closed the whole time- I didn't want to see the blood.

I dared to open my eyes a sliver, and noticed everyone gawking at me as if I was an idiot. Hey, it wasn't as if I just made these wounds now!

I am **not** a masochist.

**And I forgot to mention that this is my first fic, so yeah, all opinions are appreciated. Its not a cliff hanger! Yay! And bye! :)**


	3. Mind Blown

Its funny, not much happened after that…

Ok, I lied, but the truth is I really don't know much of what occurred. After about 5 minutes of being gawked at like a moron, I passed out like the strong girl I am. Yeah guys, its called blood loss. Look it up on your own free time. But before that, I clearly recall Jenny in all her Jennyness asking me if I "truly understood our current predicament," (Her words not mine.) and Kevin being kind enough to mindlessly point out I was becoming really pale.

I'm proud to inform you that day most likely engraved itself into my history as the day I've bleed the most in my entire life. ('Course I didn't bleed it all out at once, I'm just that friendly with injury.)

What am I doing now you ask? Well I woke up about umm, 30 seconds ago from a God knows how long sleep to find myself alone in a small 10 by 15 room with a large, almost floor to ceiling, window on the wall opposite the door I have no doubt I can shove myself through easily. The bed I'm laying in has the window on my right; said window is suggesting it's about noon due to the bright sunlight I imagine woke me up. There's a night stand with a half empty glass of water on my right, in front of the window. Allow me repeat myself: I'm alone.

Yeah, my friends are that nice.

No, they're not that mean, well at least I hope not. I'm assuming they're with everyone else trying to find and communicate with the mayor of this fine city. I look out the window, and find my chin wet with saliva from my mouth hanging ajar.

Everyone's just chillin. They're sitting there, on a fountain in what looks like the center of town, and I think someone just made a joke, because they all randomly start laughing. Nice to know someone's worrying about me. Where's my mom when I need her? I really suck at this, like seriously, what the hell?

I pulled the blanket off my body to reveal my legs covered by a white, eggshell if you're into specifics, hospital gown. Slowly swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I hold onto the fluids attached to my IV for my dear life as I progress myself to stand properly on the ground. My bare feet shiver from the tiled floor.

Once standing steady, I grab my head with one hand, the other still on the fluids, and try to shoo the dizziness away. After about a minute, I swiveled myself around to face the glass of water. Not wanting anyone to steal it, I throw myself onto the bed and reach for the water desperately. Don't bother telling me there's no one else in the room, 'cuz I know that- I have to keep myself entertained some way. One of my good friends once told me: "Jo, you could probably keep yourself entertained with only a paper clip and a piece of string for a good hour, hell we all know it'd last you longer than that." I giggled at the memory. Lucky her she didn't take physics. Sigh. Moving on…

I'm proud of myself for not going around the bed to get to the water like I probably would've done; I actually have no idea why I didn't; it takes me all of 10, maybe 11 seconds to down the water. Once satisfied, I place it back down onto the nightstand gently and crawl to the foot of the bed. When I looked over it, I frowned- the little clipboard I assumed to have my records didn't lay there. A soft voice made me jump and produce a wide-eyed look at the door frame.

A lady, maybe a nurse, started speaking in gibberish. Awesome. Don't they have interpreters or something of the like? I grunted, cocking my head with my eyebrows furrowed. She must've gotten the message for she smiled and left the room only after a few seconds. She came back moments later with, what looks like, her husband. They were average height with small, dark eyes and heavy eyelids. His complexion was light while hers contrasted and rivaled with Issac's (she won that battle- it was only by a couple of shades though).

He sat down next to me on the bed and I eyed him while his wife left the room. I locked my jaw when he gestured for me to turn my back to him. The icy stethoscope was the only thing pressed against me- my bandages- and my eyebrow twitched while I took slow, deep, breaths. This is just way to obvious- he either is that scared of me, or I'm this "delicate" little girl with her upper back covered with sticky red blood platelets. When he cleared his throat, I turned around, and he warily pressed the doctor's device against my chest. More deep breaths. Once finished, he wore it like a scarf.

A frown fixed itself onto my face when he spoke. Gibberish. It is the same as the men who found my friends and I? Sighing defeated, the doctor walked around the bed and to the dresser and opened the drawer. He sighed when I saw him pull out a bottle; he tossed it to me; I read the label- characters. Just beautiful. Korean were the only ones I could rule out.

A clearing of a throat put my gaze back onto the doctor. He pointed to his back and I smiled. I then pointed to the empty glass and he picked it up and left the room only to return a moment later.

I opened the bottle of meds, popped a pill into my mouth and chugged the refilled glass. Once finished I put the glass back onto the night stand (déjà vu much?). I pulled at the fabric of my hospital gown- where are my clothes? His answer- a very confuzzled facial expression. Ah damn it. Reaching over, I pulled at the sleeve of his shirt, the at his pants; after a minute, he fled the room filled with my crazyness.

"Wait!" I called; no avail.

And I was left like that to come up with what Steph would call "plans for world domination" when after about 10 minutes I was just bored as hell and couldn't take it anymore. I decided to come up with crazy scenarios, who wouldn't? Oh shit. What if those pills were meant to kill me? Fuck it, it's too late for that now.

I look out the window to further entertain myself. My peers have all dispersed from the water fountain I saw them at earlier. I should find them. Scratch that, I need to find them. Now scanning the crowd, no familiar face was in sight. This will be difficult.

I maneuvered myself around, back turned to the window, and faced the door. I looked at my IV. What are the consequences of me pulling it out? There is no way possible they'd know my blood type- my mom and I are the only ones that do. Then again, I could be filled with their supply of O Negative. My eyes scan the bag of fluids. Clear- it looks clear. Great, God only knows what magic's in there. Well shit, I'd make a cohesive decision if I had any sort of information about this place. I play with a strand of my hair as I sort out my thoughts.

Calm yourself Jo. They wouldn't keep you here just for kicks- they either want information or they're plain nice people. Yeah, nice people who swing knives into people's faces.

My face!

I bring my hand to my cheek and come to the conclusion it's softer than my infant nephew's ass. What sorcery is this? Have I been out _that _long? Must have, that shit was deep. Well then, that solves things rather easily. I pull the IV out of my arm and stepped out of the bed cautiously.

Great, what do I do now? I look down at myself and realize I'm still in a hospital gown. Next course of action: locate decent clothing. I don't know about you, but I am not going anywhere with my ass bare like this.

I scan the room and all that could possibly hide clothes is the tiny, one drawer night stand. I wobble over, around the bed, and check anyways. Nothing. Wow, my assumptions must be improving. I frown and examine the little stubby toes attached to my little feet. While doing so, I see something sticking out from under the bed.

Please don't kill my hope of finding clothes. Please don't kill my hope. Please! I knelt down and pulled out a black box. It opened on the side I lifted the top up. Oh thank God!

I picked up the box and dumped the contents onto the bed. They're not my clothes, but clothes are clothes; the only thing that matters is if they fit. I picked up a pair of navy under armor and might I add that it's the softest pair I have ever managed to get my hand on.

Under armor still in hand, I walk to the door and scan the hallway. Satisfied, I close the door and lock it. I slip the under armor on and it actually fit better than a glove. I smiled and hobbled over to the rest of the clothes.

There was a small forest green tank top and an extremely large sweater with fur on the inside. I pulled the hospital gown over my head and put the tank top in its place. The thing was too frickin short (well I am a little taller than average)- it stopped only about an inch under my belly button. Damn, I need to work out I thought as I poked my tummy. I sighed and picked up the sweater and shoved my hands through the sleeves. Once done, I zipped it up slightly to hide the little skin that showed. Ahh, toasty warm; I smiled.

I knelt down and put the box back under the bed. Damn, no shoes. I sighed and made the bed like the classy person I am. Then I strode over to the window and after a moment of examining it, I realized there was no lock to lock/ unlock to the window. Sigh, why does it not look like I'll be able to open this window? I frowned and put my hands on the bottom, then pulled up. Fuuuuckk. I stopped and took a breath. This is not going to work out.

I sprint to the door like a ninja and unlock it. Then, I nearly peed myself. Thank God there's a "nearly" in that previous sentence. The object of my scare is a woman with her arms crossed and tapping foot at the door. Oh shit, oh shit. I freeze and my eyes widen. She's blonde with fair skin and blue (pupil less?) eyes. She's dressed in all purple and tell my how I'm mortified of her at the moment- she looks PISSED.

She gestures for me to back up and I comply, almost tripping over myself. I keep going until I hit the bed; I just climb on top of it and hold the pillow to protect myself.

I take the moment to examine her further. The purple attire she had was a belly shirt with fishnets under and a skirt. Her belt was also pretty weird with a metal plate in the middle and a small symbol in the middle of said plate. She was considerably shorter than me; is everyone here short? As Steph would yell at me: "Jo, you're just unnecessarily tall." True, I am about 5'7, approximately 170 centimeters. The lady is somewhere between her late 20s, early 30s.

I openly stared at her eyes. They were in fact pupil less and I could only hope that I was going insane because the best people are crazy. Her arms were still crossed and her expression read "seriously?" Yeah, she was pissed. I could only smile sheepishly.

She walked over to me and I gripped the pillow tighter and closer to me. Once in front of me, she kneels and smiles which actually calms me down. But, I do not relinquish hold of my pillow. I really wish my bangs were longer. She performs some hand motions and I'm thinking to myself, Lady, I apologize, but I don't know any sign language, let alone ASL. I frowned and gave her my best "you are crazy" look to tell her so. (Hopefully she doesn't know what I think about loons.)

I blacked out for the third time that day.

* * *

I, once again, have no idea how long I was out. I assume it wasn't long though considering the lady was sitting on the floor looking at me expectantly. Was I supposed to do something? When we make eye contact, she smiles; then stands.

"How are you feeling?" She asked me. "My name is Ino Yamanaka. Do you understand?"

What. The. Fuck.

**And I thank you for reading :)**


	4. I Shall be a Guniea Pig

Ino Yamanaka. That's this lady's name. This blonde lady with round, blue, pupil less eyes. She is completely overwhelmed in purple- that's the only color she's wearing.

"Hello?" her sing-song voice finally reached me. " Do you know what I'm saying- do you understand?"

I just nod- I'm too mind-boggled to think. Magically learning a language overnight doesn't ride well with me. No, she's not the one speaking English; well I'm speaking her tongue try my best to explain this as best as I can, but I'm not too sure how attack it considering I'm still processing this... I'm in Spanish class, and Ms. Elizalde is asking me a question in Spanish in which I must also answer in Spanish. This, this second language barrier (well Spanish is my third, but you get it) is just uber annoying because I really don't like taking the time to process everything. I mean do I really have that time right now? I gotta get home- to my family- and just get on with my life. I wanna live as best I can.

Back to the bigger picture:

"Excellent." I looked at her and she was smiling, really proud of herself. Did I do that? "I still can't believe my new jutsu worked properly on so many people." Probably.

"People?" I tested in her tongue. Frowning at the foreign taste, my mouth slightly hung ajar for it just felt too damn natural. How can something be so natural, and completely unknown is beyond me.

"Yes people. Those kids who were with you are now speaking to a village official as well as my teammate."

"Village?" I whispered. This is a village? It's ginormous!

She sighed. "We're at a port village in the Land of Tea."

"The Land of Tea?"

"Yes."

"Never heard of it."

Another sigh. "I know." I gaped at her. How the hell would she know? Did she talk to my friends/ acquaintances? Must have. "I know this is a lot to take in, but I have to tell you you're not at home anymore," Really? "and the world you're accustomed to isn't the one you're sitting in now- my world. I can't really explain everything to you right now, but I promise you'll be filled in later."

I took a moment to process. "Where are they?" My eyes never left her, and I locked my jaw.

"I already told you."

"No, um, I want to see them- the people I'm 'accustomed' to."

The lady just looked at me. What was her name again? Eh, I'll ask her later. I bet she thinks I'm too calm for this madness. Well lady, you'll get your desired reaction soon enough- truth is, I'm bet I'm dreaming. Well I hope I am. When I realize this crap is real, that's when shit will go down. If, I don't wake up, that is. Remember that if. I mean for all I know, I could've hit my head real hard on that bus seat.

"When can I see them?" I repeated.

"Why'd you pull out your IV?" Nice job changing subject.

"Why won't you let me see a familiar face?"

She groaned and broke eye contact. Ha, I won. "Are all of you this difficult?" I just shrugged. "Well did you at least take your medicine?" She pointed behind me at the box of meds sitting on the night stand. I swiveled over and picked it up. All I got out of the medical mumbo jumbo was that it was for muscle pain. The fuck? When did the scribbles turn ledgible? I scanned it further. Some of the words look familiar; I just don't know what it says.

Experimenting, I rolled my shoulder. A little tight, but that's about it. No pain whatsoever. That's whats up. I smiled.

"It shouldn't hurt- you've been on that for 2 days now."

I twisted myself to face her. "2 days?"

She nodded. "My teammate came yesterday to decipher why we couldn't communicate. He came to the conclusion that it was some subconscious issue, so he sent for me. I arrived this morning."

Another moment proessing. "What's your name again?"

"Ino."

"Well then Ino," she made a face, "may I meet your comrade?"

She got up off the floor, damn her hair's long, and I proceeded to follow her out the door. Ino led me through a hallway which led to another hallway then finally a big room I presumed the lobby.

"Um, Ino?" I whispered.

She stopped walking and turned to face me. "Yes?"

I hesitated, "Do you not want me to call you by your name?"

"What? Why wouldn't you call me by my name?"

My gaze suddenly found the floor interesting and I pretended I was standing in dirt and proceeded to play with said dirt with my still bare feet. "Well you made a face when I addressed you that way."

No sound. I sneaked a look up and she was standing in front of me. "April- san," How the fuck does she know my real name? No one's called me that since the first day of school. I mean seriously, what kind of parents think it'd be nice to name their child after a month? Just so original. "You know about honorifics, right?"

"Yeah, but oh."

"It's ok, you didn't know we used them. Come on" She grabbed my arm and pulled me through the doors of the lobby. I tried my best to stop. "Ino, um Ino- san?"

She stopped. "Yes?"

"Call me Jo."

"Jo-san."

"You don't need the honorifics- they don't mean anything to me." I began to ponder if I was really in Asia when she looked at me. How many blonde, blue-eyed girls were there? I took a quick look around, and saw none. As I did, Ino just looked at- wondering if she should comply with my wishes.

"Is there anything else?"

"No, there isn't." She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off. "I was wondering if I could find a way out of those honorifics." I smiled sheepishly.

"But you know how to use them."

"Yeah, but knowing me, I'll continuously forget about them and then just eventually pis you off." She laughed. "Ino-san, can we be friends enough for me not to add the 'san'?"

She chuckled again. "Alright Ap-" I gave her a look, "Jo. If you could follow me, I believe you have someone to meet.

"That I do."

* * *

The town (village) was enormous! People were everywhere: walking in and out of buildings, talking to one another and/or buying from the market (or bartering, I'm not sure what consumers do). For some unknown reason, all the roads were unpaved and not a car was in sight. I felt like I was in an Amish community.

Everyone was openly staring and I began to twirl a strand of my hair while kicking a rock that was sitting peacefully on the road. Ino was now walking by my side and providing small talk. Actually, I should rephrase that: Ino was talking and I was every once in a while providing my 2 cents about it. Thanks God for her, or else I'd be eaten alive by all these people along this dirt road. I mean seriously, I know I'm dressed differently but still, it's closer to what they're wearing (or maybe just Ino's attire) than my original get-up consisting of jeans which no soul seemed to be wearing.

Suddenly, I feel Ino grabbing at my arm; pulling me back. "Jo," she nags, "are you paying attention?"

"Sorry."

She sighed. "It's alright. We're here." Bless this girl, I must've been giving her one hell of a migraine. I feel like such a child- needing all this help; it's annoying.

I was facing a building. Not really planning on describing it- it's the standard couple story house I see every day. And if you absolutely need a description, just look out a window, and there you go. Sorry, just do remember I recently woke up from a 2 day sleep.

Moving on... Ino opens the door and pulls me through. My face flushes when I see all the eyes lock onto mine, but I stop torturing my hair when I realize a large majority of them are familiar. I thank God once more.

"Holy shit Jo! You're awake!" Issac nearly tackles me,

"Hey!" Ino warns and thus saving me from toppling over. "Stop that." She pinched him, and he backed off. "You do realize she woke up not too long ago right? She's still weak."

Issac pouts and hugs me more gently this time.

"Babe, don't lose any more blood, it's important," Kim lectured.

I chuckled. "Yes mother."

"I didn't think you'd ever have the balls to do that," she told me.

"Me neither." I paused. "But you know me, I'm a selfish giver."

"Yes, but don't torture your body just for everyone else you hear. Remember your own life."

"Yeah yeah."

"Thanks though," Did Jenny just thank me? "If you hadn't done that, we would still be seen as a threat." Wow, never in my days did I think she'd praise me. "But never do it again, Kim's right, that was reckless." Never mind.

"Will you be ok?" Kevin asks.

I nod- Kim's currently squeezing the breath out of me and Issac's sitting there pouting- wishing she'd get pinched. I notice with a frown Ino's escaped the room.

"Kim," I breathed out.

"Oh my gosh, sorry!" She let go and smiled sheepishly.

"It's all good. The meds here are amazing."

Someone cleared their throat and all eyes were instantly directed towards the center of the room. A man with jet black hair that was up in a pony tail seemed to be the cause. He was wearing a green leather jacket that reminded me of the bus driver's with a black, long sleeved undershirt and capris and sandals. He looks to be around Ino's age; he's standing next to her in fact.

"Alright everyone, the village official and I have finished deliberating," he sounds like he's in jury duty, "and have decided it'd be best to take you to our country."

"How many of us are going?" Sam asked, scaring the shit out of me. I hear him suck his lip and I a glance back to see him smiling at the sneak attack. I narrow my eyes and his smile widens.

"All of you." I gaped at the man. Well at least we're not separated.

"Wait, what?!" Jenny's eyes look like they'll pop out of their sockets.

He sighed. "All of you are going. The hokage would like to meet you as well as perform some tests."

Jenny crossed her arms. "What kind of tests."

If I were him, I would have groaned- props for his composure. "The kind with results." I had to seriously force myself to hide a snicker, but Sam didn't care as much as I did and received a glare from Jenny. I look up and see the man's looking at me. Me not Sam, I'm sure of it. Oops, I guess I didn't try hard enough. This

Kevin was like, "I'd like to know what's being done to my body too."

The man groaned again. "Ino." She sighed. I bet she thinks we're all difficult like this... Nope, that's just me and Jenny. I smiled.

"We want to look at your chakra and explore your culture."

"Our chakra. What's that?" Zack's eyebrow now raised.

"It's your life force; none of you responded to our usual medicine which involves it."

"But Ino," I started, "We're all very much alive; you can see that."

She took a moment to come up with a good answer: "Jo, I know, that's why we want the tests."

I processed for a moment. Once finished, I raised my eyebrows. Letting out a breath that reached my Dora-like bangs I looked around. Most looked worried. Others like Kevin and Jenny seemed curious about the results. Sam was just plain amused.

"What happens after?" Mou asked, a finger on his chin.

Ino and the man just stood there- at a loss for words.

"We'll just have to see what happens now won't we?" Issac broke the silence.

Sam let loose a chuckle and as he did the man next to Ino let out a sigh. "The hokage will figure everything out," Mr. Pony tail said.

"Um, what's a hokage?" Kevin asked. Seems like no one heard him because he didn't get an answer. Well it's understandable considering the room was surrounded by chatter.

"Everyone!" Mr. Pony tail demanded attention, "get ready to leave- we'll be going soon."

**yeah, this one's like half the size of the last one, sorry :(**

**tell me what you think :)**


	5. Guns vs Chakra

True to his word, we only left maybe 20 minutes after that. Why did we all go willingly you ask? Well turns out the villagers weren't looking at me because of my different clothing and appearance- my smart little buddies were chillin' at the water fountain I saw them at earlier; one thought it'd be fun to play with water, so they scooped up a handful and "threw" it at someone. This shifted to an all-out war and within a matter of minutes everyone was soaked. That uh, "little fountain" just so happened to be a war monument with inscription of people who were lost (which was a pretty large number considering this country supposedly doesn't have a military).

Yeah, smooth.

And what makes this even funnier is that they had their little magical language learning lesson just an hour or so before that- they could read the inscription they were sitting on. Ino made sure I knew that tiny detail. Those dumbasses.

While Jenny was explaining the mishap, I just glanced around the room in utter awe. Jenny looked just as pissed as I did. Apparently she was inside listening to the conference between Shikamaru (Ino later told me Pony tail's name) and the village official. My mouth was ajar and I took an extremely deep breath.

"Well then," I started only to take another deep breath, "I don't know about any of you, but Imma leave and I wasn't even involved." I emphasized the last part.

"That goes for me as well," Jenny said. I could see the tendons in her neck. Oh shit, they're gonna get it later. One thing I know about Jenny, she hates scenes- she definitely wouldn't want our image here to get any worse than it already is.

Well that goes that. So here we are, walking along a dirt path for who knows how long. I mean, I assume it's been a while since the moon is out even though the sun hasn't started to set yet.

During this little adventure Ino told us that the Land of Tea boarders her country and that it'll take a little over a day to get there. At her pace. At my pace, we'd be lucky to get there in 2 days.

Don't get me wrong, I'm in much better shape than Jenny and Kevin (pour souls, they need a good rest) are, but my shins are on fire, and the soles of my feet sting. Oh, and yes, I finally got a pair of shoes! Hallelujah! Not to mention the medicine is giving me an excruciating headache. I don't want to complain, but I am, so… yeah.

The only things on our backs are blankets and food. I'm actually surprised the village gave these to us for free. They must've really wanted us out. Oh damn it, I feel terrible! My little cricket is telling me I should've been there to see the inscription and tell them it's not such a good idea. The other part of my mind is telling me I probably wouldn't have even noticed it, and I'd be a part of the mess.

Well there's nothing I can do about it anymore; what's done is done and I can't change it.

Back to traveling, and out of my side tracking mind, sorry. I hope you can see me smiling sheepishly.

Shikamaru is leading, while Ino is the tail of the group. Most of us are sticking to the back so we can listen to her stories about this land, not a soul is even with Shikamaru- he looks deep in thought and I have a feeling if we disturbed that, he'd turn into a Kim.

As I mentioned earlier, we've been walking for a while now, and now I can't really watch Kevin and Jenny much longer. "Ino?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Is it ok if we take a break?"

She sighed. She knows we won't get there in a day. Damn, I can't imagine walking for a day straight, I think I'd die. Why does that thought make me feel so much better? "Shikamaru!" She called. He stopped, and turned around to face us. "How about now?" She asked.

He muttered something that sounded like "alright" and put his backpack down.

"Break. We leave at sunrise," she said.

"Did you just say sunrise?" Kim asked.

"Yes."

I hissed. "But Ino, waking up that early is illegal!"

"Is it really?"

"No, we're just not used to waking up that early." Issac, you little snitch!

"Hey!" I whisper-yelled, "what are you doing?!"

"I'm telling her the honest truth." He looked way to damn smug for my taste. That little smirk isn't gonna be there tomorrow when we all kick his ass.

"Issac, of all the time to be honest, you choose now?" Kim interjected.

"Aren't I always honest?"

"No, you just have a hell of a timing is all." I jumped when the voice appeared out of nowhere. Issac chuckled openly and Kim put a hand on her mouth to mute out the sound.

"Jo, we all know you're a scaredy-cat, but this is too much." Mou chuckled.

"Humph," I pouted. "Not funny."

And Kim had to challenge me by saying, "Actually, it is,"

I waited for them to calm down and when I realized it wasn't going to happen anytime soon I abandoned them to examine Ino as she made a campfire.

"Hi Ino."

"She looked up from her masterpiece and replied, "Oh, hi Jo."

"Do you need help?"

"No, I'm actually almost done." It was a couple minutes of comfortable silence as I watched her finish the fire and she spoke again. "Why do they call you 'Jo'?"

"Huh? Oh well I absolutely hate my name," I told her.

"And Jo is your middle name?"

I took this moment to chuckle and go "I wish! No, my middle name is Ann. But anyway they call me 'Jo' because it's the name of someone in a band has the name 'Joe'."

"And you liked him?"

I chuckled louder this time and was like, "Hell no- I hated them! Everyone would constantly talk about them and I'd hiss at the sound of their name. Then they decided to tease me by calling me by one of them and it stuck so here I am."

"You don't mind being named after him?" She looked at me and took a step back to present the sticks.

I shook my head, "I like the name Joe, and I guess it fits me. If we can't find a way back, I might as well change it because no one really calls me 'April' anymore, not even my family. Hell, I don't even respond to it- I guess I just forgot it's my name."

Ino nodded and gestured to the campfire. "So what you think?"

"Nice craftsmanship." I nodded in approval.

She chuckled. "Thanks."

As Ino and I were getting some pots together to cook some fish, I realized something: I haven't eaten in 2 days. Then, right on cue, my stomach growled, and I cringed, and grabbed it with both my arms. I better feed it before it goes on strike!

Ino chuckled again. "Don't worry, it'll be done soon and I'll be sure you get the first serving."

"Thanks." I smiled and picked up the pot I dropped when I grabbed my stomach.

* * *

Once we were all fed and satisfied, we gathered around the fire to marvel at the flickers of fire that flew into the air. It was the only light we had as we watched the sun begin to slowly steal its light away. When everyone was quiet, Shikamaru cleared his throat and all eyes were on him.

Ino began to speak: "Ok, Imagine you all have a bunch of questions, and well now's the time you can ask them. But please, one at a time."

Within milliseconds, all hands were in the air. I, on the other hand just sat there like a mindless idiot. Why don't we see what everyone else wants to know shall we?"

Ino pointed to someone in the diminishing sunlight.

"What is a hokage?" I looked over and squinted to see Kevin putting his hand down- his question is finally being answered.

"The Hokage is the strongest ninja in our country. Each of the 5 great nations has a Kage with a prefix that refers back to their country. We are from the Fire Country, also known as the Land of Fire, and our Kage is the Hokage. Ho meaning fire. Each Kage is in charge of the military- all the ninjas in their country."

Cue silence due to processing teenagers.

"Ninjas?" Jenny questioned. I hope for Ino's sake she doesn't turn into me when I first talked to her.

"Yes, our military is made of ninjas; Shikamaru and I being examples." So they're ninjas in the military?

"So instead of bombs and guns you use knives as swords?"

"We use bombs."

"What's a gun?" Shikamaru spoke up, his eyebrows puzzled and he leaned forward.

"Well you know, a gun's a gun," Zack said.

"You know what Zack, you're so helpful," Sam told him.

"Screw you."

"Sorry, I'm not on that team- girls are much better."

I, along with Issac and Mou just died. Zack shot him daggers and Sam sat there looking accomplished.

Once I calmed down, I said, "It's this thingy that has a button which you press to fire bullets- metal sphere, oval-shapes- at a rapid speed. Depending on the type, you have to press the button for every bullet or you can just hold to have a continuous shot of bullets. The amount of bullets as well as the diameter of them varies between models too."

Shikamaru asked another question, "What're they used for?"

"Well they hurt and/or kill people," I told him.

He gave a nod of understanding. "Oh, guns!" Ino cried.

"Yes Ino, guns," Shikamaru said, clearly unimpressed.

"Can they be like this big?" She used her hands to show the size of an average handgun. "And are they like, heavy?"

"Yeah," Kevin said. "Um, Ino-san, have you held a gun?"

"No, but one of you have." Wait, what the fuck did she just say? The silence told me I definitely heard that right. "Well that introduces chakra quite nicely, don't you think Shika?"

"Yeah."

"Will someone care to explain how the fuck she would know if one of us has ever held a gun?" My jaw was locked, but my tone was even and controlled, or at least the way I heard it in my own ears was.

Shikamaru sighed- exasperated. "We'll explain, but you have to listen without interrupting, alright? Because if it's any other way you wouldn't understand." He paused to see if anyone would object. When no one did, he continued. "Ino, do they know anything?"

"No, not from what I saw."

He sighed again. "Geez, how troublesome. Alright, so chakra is the life force that lives inside of you; everyone has it." Right, Ino mentioned that earlier. "With chakra we can perform… uh. Crap, how would you explain jutsus Ino?"

"Um, magic?" she told him.

He nodded. "Chakra helps us do magic." Oh God, where the hell are we? "The things we do- the magic- we call them jutsus. All ninjas know some, and they use chakra to perform them." He paused to let us process.

"Now onto Ino's jutsu. She and I are part of 2 of the many clans our village has." More villages? He paused to clear his throat. "Her clan is very familiar with the intelligence unit of our military- they can access people's mind and/or memories." He paused again and I took it as him finishing his thoughts.

"So she just invaded our minds?"

He sighed again; Ino spoke for him again. "But Jo, if I didn't do that, we would've never known that you weren't from here; we wouldn't speak with each other; we wouldn't know your circumstances!"

I took a deep breath and gave in. "Continue."

"Ok, well remember when you asked about chakra earlier today and I told you our medicine involves it?" I nodded. "Well I'm also a medical ninjutsu specialist." What kind of jutsu did she say? Does that mean there's a difference between her jutsus and everyone else's? "I went to look at your condition first because you were unconscious, and I couldn't heal your injuries. I had to stop when Shikamaru reminded me about the mission. There was some difficulty entering your mind, but I did it nonetheless. And seeing your memories, I realized you weren't from here.

"That's when I left your mind and explained the situation to Shikamaru. We decided to test my new memory transfer jutsu- I'd transfer my memories of learning to speak, read and write to all of you. Then, when I couldn't enter anyone's mind, Shikamaru thought for a while, and suggested I wait until everyone's asleep. So I did and as you can see, I was successful."

"So basically, for some reason, none of you can are affected by chakra while you're conscious. We don't know why, but it could most likely be because you've never had to use it and your chakra points could be small or even closed," Shikamaru added.

"And chakra points are where chakra is released from our bodies?" Jenny asked. Shikamaru nodded. "So everyone here can use their chakra?"

"Well they'd need training to control it and/ or increase the amount they have, but essentially, yes." Its pitch black now, but I can tell it was Ino's voice. It was quiet for a moment- no one had anything to say.

"When we get to your country, will we found out why our chakra is irregular?" Kevin asked.

Shikamaru answered, "Possibly. There's still a chance we may never know."

"Will we ever return home?" Jenny's voice- it was soft and silky; I've never heard it like that. So I'm kinda frightened because I've never seen (well heard) her this scared.

It was quiet for a minute, and then Shikamaru answered. "No, I don't think so; we don't even know how you got here."

Silence. Complete and utter silence.

I broke it, "That's not fair; nor is it lucky."

"Jo-" Ino started.

"No, it's ok- I don't care. Just because you don't know squat doesn't mean we'll never go home. But even if we do, Ino, just like I said, some of us might not want to return; if I'm one of those people, I'll be ok with that, because Imma need a damn good reason not to leave and return to place I know of. We need to live as best as we can until then and make sure we don't die in the process. Who knows what could happen in an unknown territory; an unknown culture; an unknown people. Imma just build a bridge, and get over it- life goes on." Damn, I feel like Martin Luther King Jr. giving his speech.

"Well, put the fire- I want to go to sleep; Tomorrow's going to be a long day," I concluded.

**thanks again for reading, tell me what you think :)**


	6. Allusions and Illustrations

I see nothing, but that soon changes when I let out a breath. What the hell? Darkness- everything is black. Everything is black, other than my breath. Appearing to push though, like chalk on black construction paper it flies away from me like air tends to do.

I take a step towards it only to frown when it fades into the blackness as if it was my body heat and I'm in a Mass winter. A shiver escapes from the thought. Now a real shiver- I'm cold- my body became aware of it after that step and I realize my feet are bare again- the moccasins given to me by the villagers seem lost. Looking down instinctively, I become aware of my own stupidity- everything is black.

I blow out another breath and reach out towards it with my hand. When I see it's silhouette slice through the middle, I know my hand hit it's target. Flinching, I pull my hand back and bring it to my cheek- why is it wet? It feels like condensation, or whatever phase of the water cycle that is, I forget.

I dare myself to take a deep breath- the deepest my lungs could possibly produce- and shove it all out in one sigh-like movement. Nothing, no air. I'm choking! Reflexively grabbing at my neck, I look around: it's not dark anymore; I'm surrounded by water and light is coming from the surface, illuminating everything around me. Imma drown; that's a fact.

Bubbles float past me as I gurgle and I wish this was in one of those movies where characters could hold their breaths for ridiculously long amounts of time. Only I'm not. This is the real world, and I'm going to die- it's a given. How'd I even get here?

Jo, focus; there's no time for that now- some things are more important than others. Oh God. I'm swimming, I'm swimming; just keep swimming, just keep swimming, what do you do you swim, swim, swim. Reach for the sky! I have to get that sky- get to the air. I need to swim to the sky.

I can't do it- I can't reach. I just let myself float now; I'm gone before my body's even considerably close to the sky.

* * *

My eyes shoot open and I find myself laying under a blanket strangling a tree stump- the kind that campers sit on at a camp fire 'cept shorter and thinner.

Deep breath. Take some nice, deep breaths, Jo. It was just a dream. You gotta calm yourself. I bite my upper lip and cock my head upward; towards the sky; my eyes still closed. One arm still gripped to the stump, I shove the free hand into my mess of hair and frown at the tangled, greasy mess. This is so attractive. Hopefully I get to take a shower before meeting this hokage person- I want to at least look presentable.

Depending on several factors my hair can range from curled ringlets to freshly flat-iron straight, but usually it's waves that have these "just got out of bed" curls. I know, it's a mess. Somehow other people find it attractive; I just call them loons (the best people are crazy, so loon is more appropriate because it has the same meaning, but isn't necessarily "crazy").

Moving on, a groan escapes, and I set the tree into my lap then begin combing my hair with my fingers. After a nice ten minute "brush" I realize I need to pee. Shit. Get it, hahaha, I'm that funny . I scan the clearing after blinking several times to adjust to the moonlight. Everything freezes when I see a figure sitting a good couple feet from me.

After a nice swallow, I announce myself, "who are you?"

"Shikamaru." Oh thank God. "You alright kid?"

"Yeah, just a nightmare is all." He grunted in response and goes back to watching the forest. When I squeak, he's forced to look back at me; his battle stance ready. Kim's sleeping form thinks it's hilarious to claw onto my low pain tolerance nerves and has lodged her fingernails onto my ankle. "Everything's ok, the owl just spooked me," I tell him as I point across from me. Well that's partly true; my story justifies itself when the owl I pointed to lifts itself into flight and flies through the clearing, most likely for pry.

Sikamaru stares at me for another moment; then returns to his original sitting position. Pulling at Kim's wrist, I don't tear my gaze off Shikamaru until I have to due to Kim's strong grip and claws.

"Kim," I whispered, "Kim. Kimmy?" I poked her side, nothing. After a pout I picked the stump off my lap, and shoved it into Kim's face. She releases and uses both hands to push the tree out of her face.

She finally opens her eyes after I called her name again. "Uh-huh?" She sits up and rubs at her eyes.

"Wanna go on an epic adventure with me?" I ask, hope evident in my whisper.

"You need to go pee?" I nod and she takes a moment to stretch and produce a sigh which ended as a yawn. "'Kay."

I stand up; at which she extends her arms out; I take them, pulling her up. We walk out of the clearing and I can fee Shikamaru's gaze on me. I bet he thinks we're sleepwalking. Kim, probably.

So like I said, we walked into the forest, Imma say ten feet, yeah, ten sounds like a good number. We walked ten feet into the forest, stop and Kim turns around to give me privacy/ makes sure no one from the group comes to spy. Then, me being female, I squat.

"Thanks Kim."

"Uh-huh."

"I really don't understand how guys are just fine with going to the bathroom by themselves. Like, what if they get jumped on the way or something?"

"I don't know- they're guys. Do you really want to know what they think about while the pee?"

"Oh God."

"What?"

"Don't say that while I'm peeing! I really don't want to try to figure that out considering I'm kinda busy with that right now!"

She chuckled. It was quiet for a moment, and then Kim broke it, "Well Jo, you gotta grow up eventually. I mean I understand you're one of the youngest in the class, and you're more sheltered than the rest of us, but that's not an excuse anymore!"

"Kim, we both know I'm plenty grown, hell I'm half a foot taller than you!"

"Shut up."

I pulled my pants up as I stood. "Heh, you started it," I told her.

"And you continued it."

I sighed. "Whatever."

We went back to the clearing and laid down in our previous spots. Shikamaru ignored us this time, and I'm grateful for that. I hugged the stump- it's my new teddy bear. Kim fell asleep rather quickly- her snoring echoed and was part of the reason I couldn't get any sleep. The other excuse, my nightmare.

Were those her final thoughts? Is that what Steph saw? My next few breaths came out as gasps while water filled the brim of my eyes. I took a deep breath. Calm yourself. You can't change the past.

After calming down I froze when I heard twigs snap- someone, something, is walking towards us. Luckily my body was facing Shikamaru, but sadly, when I opened my eyes, I saw him sitting there, where he's been the whole time. Why the hell isn't he looking this way? Can't he hear it? Or is he playing stupid, waiting for it to reveal itself?

It's probably an animal. Well, my Polish scout experience told me so. Its way more hardcore than regular girl scouts. Whenever I describe it to my friends I say: imagine our ROTC class mixed with American girl scouts. If you ask me if we sell cookies, Imma punch you.

That all flew into the gutter when I heard labored breathing and a blade being unsheathed. Oh fuck my life.

Before I know it, my breathing becomes like theirs from anxiety and I find myself shaking. Oh my God. Think. Come on, Jo! Does he know, or is he deaf? Decide, you gotta decide now.

I spring up, and walk over to Shikamaru, all in one swift movement; still holding my stump. He hears me coming and watches my sit down next to him.

"Hi," I say.

"Hey."

"It's too quiet." He doesn't respond, well considering that was a stupid statement, I forgive him.

After an awkward silence, he says, "Are you ok?"

Is my breathing really that heavy? I wait a moment before answering, "Um, yeah. How well can you see in the dark?"

"Huh?"

"Can you see well in the dark? And it looks like your listening skills suck."

"Yeah, I've been trained to, and no, that random question confused me- I can hear pretty good."

"Right. Um, well, do you want to draw pictures in the dirt?"

"You want me to draw in the dirt?" Now is not the best time to think I'm a loon, Mr. Pony tail. I mentally groan in frustration.

"Yeah, we can take turns, why don't you go first?"

"Ok." He sounds hesitant; his tone telling me he really doesn't want to participate.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," I blurt out.

He sat there, and looked at me. I was facing the direction of the sound; his back was too it. Not holding his eye-contact anymore, I simply looked past him, so anyone watching would think I looked at him; I knew he knew better, and searched for whatever, whoever it was that frightened me.

A tap on the shoulder was all it took to get me looking at him again. He held up a twig. "Why don't you go first?" My assumptions are finally right.

"'Kay."

I took the twig from him, and thought. How the fuck do I write something he'll be able to read? Can I write with their characters? Does Ino know how to write?

Ok, I've decided. Imma just wing it. Yeah, I'm stupid and irresponsible, but that's ok, I'm just not good at spontaneous decisions. Pressure can kill.

Back to the "picture." I leaned forward and brushed the twig against the dirt; my stump was now resting in my lap. It was a little difficult to see considering the fire was put out hours ago and my shadow from the moon was on top of my writing, but I tried nonetheless. The characters looked scribbly and unpracticed from my inexperienced hand, but I could still read it; that means Ino could read it; I hope that means Shikamaru can read it.

I leaned back when I was done and admired my handy work. From what I could read, it basically said: I heard labored breathing and an unsheathed blade.

"What do you think? Does it look like a cat?" He grunted. "What? Do you not believe it's supposed to be a feline?"

"It's a good cat." He believed me, oh thank God. "Is it my turn?"

I looked at him, "Yeah."

Shikamaru drew a person, with a big head and a large mouth, "I'm done."

"Who's that?"

"Ino." I almost died. "No, she has longer hair. May I?" He relinquished ownership of the twig. I drew her hair all flowy and probably longer than it really was, but whatever. "Now I don't know if that's accurate, did she always have long hair?"

"No, when we were younger, younger than you, she had it grown out, but was forced to cut it. But doesn't her hair fan out more?" I cocked my head, and gave him a blank look. Sighing, he wrote something in the dirt. _Draw an arrow._

What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I furrowed my eyebrows and thought for a little. Oh! He wants to know where the hiders are hiding! My bad. Stupid distractions. I really should get ADD tested.

"Sorry," I mumbled. I took the twig, and drew an arrow facing the direction I came from. Shikamaru grunted which made me look at him.

"Are you sure it's always like that?"

"Huh?"

He sighed. "Her hair doesn't fan out this one way."

What? He pointed to the arrow. And I examined it. "Well I haven't known her long enough- I don't know."

"I see."

* * *

We kept drawing picture for the rest of the night; I'm pretty sure Shikamaru didn't lose his guard- he actually looked extremely calm, while I was pidgin-toed and stiff. He told me to relax; the animals won't bother us if we don't bother them. (After he said that, I calmed down, but completely forgot there were hiders around.) If he means murderers, than I hope he's right. Well, isn't he kinda trained in this stuff? And I'm still alive, so that must mean there's been no opening, right?

I hope so.

Moving on, after, let me say 3 or so hours of doodling in the dirt, Ino woke up and twenty minutes after that, she and Shikamaru woke everyone else up. Is it hard to imagine everyone was excited? Yeah, I guess it is. Kim, was extremely pissed; in fact, her sleeping self almost duffed Ino in the face. Another thing to consider, the sun has just started to rise. Oh Issac's gonna get it.

We trudged along the path, and I suddenly remembered the hiders! Is Ino aware of them? Shikamaru's so passive, and she's the same- I have no idea if I just imagined the whole thing.

"Ino?" I asked. I gotta ask her.

"Yeah?"

"How come we can't just get a ride?" This has been bugging me since we started walking.

"What? A ride?"

"You know," I started, but stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I look to it's owner and find Jenny. "What?"

"She has no idea what you're talking about," Jenny told me.

I gave her a look. "And I was going to explain it to her."

"No- they don't have cars here. No cars, busses or planes. We asked while you were out." I gaped at her. How did these people live? "I don't know what's going on here, but they have wagons and carriages. Oh, and obviously boats since we saw them at the port village. Maybe we've gone back in time."

"But Jenny," I tested slowly. She looked at me. "They had me plugged into an IV."

"What? No, you probably hallucinated; you did lose a surreal amount of blood." And the most logical one is gone. Oh shit, we're going to die here! I didn't push it anymore in order not to fry her brain- we need everyone that we got.

More walking, and might I say everyone was wearing their grumpy faces, Issac included. Yeah, Karma's a bitch. Me, I'm grateful for the conversations, the distraction, or else I'd probably have passed out by now. Don't ask me how many all-nighters I've completed, you'd be disappointed.

The sun was high in the sky, and Imma guess it's about noon. Upon hearing my stomach's protest, and everyone else's complaining, Ino and Shikamaru reluctantly gave us a break.

"It's going to be a pain explaining why we're this late to Naruto," Ino said. Shikamaru sighed.

With my face planted in the dirt, I took my log, and cuddled to it like a pillow- time for a nap….Shit, I can't do this! I groaned and twisted onto my back; still strangling onto my stump. Blab la bla. I thought everyone was cranky for getting up early, what happened? Where'd all the energy come from? Damn it.

A poke in the side, and I flinched, then convulsed into the fetal position- I've extremely ticklish and sensitive to touch; having a low pain tolerance doesn't really help that.

Kim giggled at the sound I produced. I believe it was something like a "Nyaaaahhh!"

"Hey there," she said. I grunted. I sneaked a look and I saw the grin I knew would be there. "You look like a kicked puppy."

"I feel like one." I paused. "Glad to know my pain causes you pleasure and got the desired effect."

Before I know it, it's dark out and we have only the moonlight to guide us. I really want to admire it, but I'm scared that I'll either somehow get lost or walk into a tree. Hey, it's happened before ok, please don't laugh.

"Ino," I yawned, "how much longer?"

"Not much."

"But you said that an hour ago!"

"Because it's true." Deciding not to push her anymore, I focused more on keeping her pace than talking. She was walking too damn fast for any of us to keep up. How the hell does this girl was so fast? She has to be at least 2 inches shorter than me, and I'm struggling. I don't even want to think how hard of a time Kim and Jenny have- they're shorter than Ino herself!

I made a gasp as my foot lodged itself into a ditch and because I was walking so damn fast I didn't have time to catch myself. And thus, the inevitable reunion of my face and the dirt was painful. Oh so painful.

"Jo?! Are you ok?" Kim ran to me.

"Eh."

"Jeez Jo, we all know you're a klutz, but what the hell did you trip over? 'Course, you do have your own two feet," Issac snickered.

I pushed myself off the ground. "One, I hate you. Two, there was a ditch."

He squinted. "Yes, yes there was." I mentally thanked Kim for defending me.

"Come on, you'll be left behind!" Ino warned. "We're almost there; I can see the gate!"

I was in the process of getting up when I found myself tangled inside a net, like the one they trap fish in. I did the first time that came to mind: I screamed.

I look, and my mouth just dangles from my jaw- we have to be at least twenty feet behind everyone. Well shit. Thank you gravity, and net.

I see Ino spin around, eyes wide and she assesses our surrounding. Sorry to say, I can't really tell you what she's looking at because this net is heavy, and my bangs are covering my forehead and eyes. A poke in the side and I almost twitched into the fetal position, but as I bent to do so my forehead hit someone's face and I squeaked in pain.

"Sorry Jo," Kim said.

"It's all good. What the hell is going on, my bangs are in my face?" I replied

"Um, there is a man in between us and everyone else."

"And why the hell did you poke my side?"

"I didn't."

"What?"

"I did." Issac's voice.

"Issac, where are you?"

"As much as I like your ass in my face Jo, I've know you too long to find it appealing." I grunted, then maneuvered myself onto my side, and kicked Issac in the process. "Ow."

"Well would you rather have my ugly ass in your face?"

"Thanks."

"You don't have to say it like that." The second I finished that sentence a knife landed next to my face and I gasped, eyes wide.

"Will you all shut the fuck up?!" I turned my head and saw it was our kidnapper who spoke. Shikamaru was the only one left. Ino must've gotten everyone else to run away. Well that's nice.

Oh shit! That jacket! "You're the bus driver!" I yelled.

"Fuck, is he really?! You're an ass; do you know how many people you killed?!" Oh Issac's pissed. Well considering he was a pretty popular guy who liked everyone and vice versa, I understand. Hell, I'm majorly pissed at this man because I just knew a handful of my peers- I'm a very introverted and shy person.

Mr. Bus Driver grunted as Shikamaru took advantage of the distraction and did something. Yes, he did something. I was too distracted to notice.

"What just happened?" I asked Kim.

"Shikamaru did some sign language and I think his shadow grew, connecting to our kidnapper's. It's magic!"

"Kim, it's that jutsu stuff they explained earlier," Issac informed.

"Right."

"Go Shikamaru! You got this!" I cheered. Then I really looked at Shikamaru, he was sweating, almost as if he was struggling. Well shit.

Bus Driver chuckled. "Do you really think your jutsu will last that long in the dark?"

"Long enough for my comrade to get reinforcements." Shit, he's painting now.

"And did I come alone?" Well shit.

Um, ok, what can I do? Damn, I wish I was Jimmy Neutron… "Brain blast!" I said, and shut my eyes.

"Jo, sweetie," Kim started.

Shikamaru muttered something: "That was your first mistake."

"Hm?"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm trying to come up with a way to get out of the net!"

"Oh God, please don't." I grunted and reopened my eyes. Then, like Jimmy, I got it.

"Where's the edge of the net?" I whispered.

"What, why does that matter?" Kim asked.

"Here!" Issac announced. I turned my head, and he was pulling the rope and attached to it was a medicine ball.

"Ok." It took a moment to swivel over to him, but I did it nonetheless. I grabbed the edge. "Ok, we're going to lift it on the count of 3." He nodded. "One." I really hope Issac did some major weight-lifting in track. "Two. Three!" We grunted at the same time, and together lifted the same medicine ball a couple of inches off the ground. This shit is heavy!

"Kim!" I gasped.

"Coming!" She came just a moment later. Even with all of our power together, we could only lift it up half a foot.

"Ok, Kim you go first!"

She kept one hand on the bottom of the ball and army crawled out. The, after reassuming her hand under the ball, I copied her. Once I was situated, I prayed to God Kim and I alone would be able to lift this sucker long enough for Issac to squeeze through.

When he let go, the medicine must've dropped at least 3 inches and landed on Issac's head. I ignored his pain, and yelled at Kim. "Kimmy, come on! We got this!" She grunted and once Issac's lower back was out, we both dropped the ball; fortunately missed him this time, and he swiftly squeezed out.

"Shikamaru!" I screamed. He looked over. "You ok?!"

"Shit!" Bus Driver said. "How the hell did you get out?"

"One we're that awesome; two, we're not fish." I explained.

"I'm fine. You run," Shikamaru stated. "Just run straight and you'll reach my comrades soon. They'll escort you to the village."

"OK." Kim and Issac have no problem with this suggestion.

They begin to sprint, but stop after a couple seconds when they realize I didn't comply. "Jo!" Kim screams. "What the hell are you doing?! Get your ass over here!"

"But what if he dies?!" I gestured to Shikamaru.

"Don't throw your life away!" Issac warns.

"But-" I was interrupted with a scream. It was Kim, and she was screaming my name.

The last thing I saw before I finally fell asleep was Mr. Bus Driver's face. Too bad the only thing I remember was the metal bar in the middle of his headband. It had something carved inside, too bad I passed out before the shape registered in my memory.

* * *

"Hey. Hey. What's her name again?"

"Jo." Ino's voice.

"Jo, honey, wake up." I grunted. "Please."

"Fiiine," I stretched the word. Another grunt, then I sat up and rubbed my eyes. It took a moment for my eyes to gain focus but the first thing I saw was the color pink. Once focused, I realized the pink was attached to someone's head. That's cool. I got no problem with pink hair; my friend once dyed hers green. "Where'd you get that done- it's really bright."

"What?" The lady asked me. She was a little taller than Ino, and looked to be about her age.

"Where'd you get your hair dyed?"

"Get my hair dyed?"

"Yeah, it can't possibly be natural."

"But it is."

"What do you mean your hair is 'natural?'"

"There's no such thing as hair dye- it's absurd- clothes I understand, but hair? You're funny," Pink Head reasoned. I almost passed out again; it's not good to do that is it?

"Where am I? Who are you?!"

"Jo, relax." I spun and saw Ino on the other side of my bed. "You're safe- You're in the Leaf's hospital." Does she mean leaves hospital?

"Where's everyone else- Kim, Issac, and, and Shikamaru… Are they ok?"

"They're fine." Ms. Pink said. Her eyes are a bright, vibrant green. Not gonna question if those are contacts or not…

"Um, what's your name?" How come I'm always question-filled?

"My name is Sakura Haruno, and I'm the head of this hospital."

"'Kay and-"

"Jo!" I flinched at the sudden shriek of my name. Damn Kim's loud. A second later, a force forces itself through the door, nearly toppling Sakura over. "How are you?"

"Fine. And Kim, apologize to Sakura, you nearly killed her!" Damn, I really don't want to be a nagger.

Sakura chuckled and responded: "It won't be that easy to kill me. You," she gestured to Kim with a hand on her hip, "need to get out. Jo-san needs her rest." Déjà vu. Is she possibly, somehow, related to Ino? And so Kim was shoved out just as fast as she pushed herself in.

"Do I really need to stay much longer?" Yeah, I'm a whiner. And proud.

"No, you can check out if you want to," Ino replied.

"Ino," Oh shit- that tone. I pulled the blanket to hide parts of my face. "Naruto said he wanted those results as soon as possible- she needs to stay." Sakura knows damn well how to be persuasive.

"Listen forehead-"

"Oh how old are you?!"

"Sakura," Ino corrected, "She deserves to freshen herself up and explore the village a bit; let's save the boring crap for later." Oh God, why am I in the middle of this?

"Well Ino, do you really want to refuse our Hokage?"

"Aren't I supposed to meet him?" Should I have intervened? Guess it's too late for that. In my mind, I was more silent than a mouse, but I know my message came across because I received a double stare. "And if I'm supposed to meet this "hokage" person I'd like to look presentable. 'Cuz isn't he important? I feel disgusting."

A moment to process the information. "Alright Jo, I'll go ahead and check you out." And thus, Ino fled and I was left with Sakura.

"Jo-san-"

"Sakura I, Sakura-san, I'd appreciate it if you didn't use honorifics."

She spoke slowly, "Alright."

"And in return, Imma tell you right now, that Imma forget to add them to your name so you think it'd be ok if we were friends?" Insert a sheepish smile- those always work.

All I received was a look. Yes, a look. "I see."

I didn't have enough time to question her for Ino returned, pulled the IV out of my arm, shoved clothes into my arms, gestured to a door and told me to change. Everything was robotic, my movements, I mean; even my nod. A robotic manner and the clothes pull themselves on; before I realize it, I'm out into the original room and I'm being watched. May I assume they're done talking? I bet they were talking about me, or well, something relevant to me.

Please, for the love of God, stop looking at me. "Um, where can I take a shower?"

And here I am, at Ino's house, taking a shower. Of course some thinking is gonna go down, I mean I am in the shower.

I remember how much attention the villagers gave me. Terrified. Did the port villagers tell them how stupid my peers are? Wait, how would they know I'm not indigenous? Do I look different? Aside from the pink hair, Ino's blonde! So what if I'm not blonde? My hair color's way more natural than some pink they're telling me is. I really must be hallucinating.

Relax Jo. How can I distract myself? Ohh, this shampoo smell nice. Must be strong- I have a suckish sense of smell. When I say "suckish" I mean I couldn't smell the senior prank last year which was stink bombs. Before you tell me how uncreative they were, the year before the seniors camped out at school. That's it. They slept in a tent. I know. Next year, people know my class would've had the best one yet, 'cuz we're that boss.

Moving on. Ino's house is above a lovely flower shop that her family runs which, might I say, is a good way from the hospital where she told me she works at as well.

So I'm still thinking about the flowers when I turn off the shower after conditioning and drying myself. I walk over to the clothes I threw onto the floor and examine them because I didn't at the hospital. A blue tank-top that's short slides over my upperself and black sweatpants that I assume are men's just because the crotch is so big covers my lowerself. I notice the bottom have a rubberband as if the ankles are supposed to stretch when I go to suffocate my feet with disgusting blue sandals.

My feet feel exposed. And ugly. They're… Nope, can't think of a cool way to combine those words. Damn I feel stupid.

After the clothes are on I feel more déjà vu when I tiptoe to the door and open it. That déjà vu is 'cuz Ino just so happens to be standing there and I nearly pissed myself. Thank God I didn't- that shower would've been rendered useless.

"Ready?" She asked me.

"Huh?"

Ino groaned. "You're supposed to meet the Hokage."

I took a moment to process. "Oh yeah! I have to meet the hokage."

"Yes, let's go now."

"'Kay."

So another time skip; I'll spare you of my mental breakdown from all the stares. Imma just say now, this is a big building. Yes Jo, you are very vague. Why thank you, I always try my best! Insert sheepish smile here.

Yes, back to big building. This is a large building with multiple levels and it's at the edge of the village, next to the mountain which is like the freaking Mount Rushmore! What the hell? There are freaking faces (6) carved into the mountain, how could I have missed that?!

Ino leads me into said building, up some stairs and some hallways and yeah it was a while. I'm just happy she didn't sprint there.

Now there's a door and I find myself alone. The hell? How'd this happen? When'd she leave? How the hell did Ino think it was possibly ok to leave Jo here to fend for herself? If someone were to come and attack me at this very instant I'd die- I can't protect myself and I have difficulty literally killing flies. I disappoint myself. Oh God Jo! Just open the damn door and walk in! Wait, does one knock before arriving before the hokage? How do you open a door again?! Shit!

Relax, calm yourself. To open door:

Extend hand. Check.

Open hand. Yes.

Make sure door is in front of you. Ok, I'm not delusional.

Wrap hand around knob/door opening device. I look down, see one and comply.

Twist-

"Come in!"

What? Shit, what do I do? My hand releases the knob and in my panic I forget what step I'm on. Well damn. Ok Jo. What'd they say? Um…

"I said you can come in!" Coming!

Eyes wide, I slam the door open, leaving it open, walk inside, and freeze. It's a rapist!

An Aryan man with long sideburns is sitting a desk. A very nice desk. His blue eyes are narrowed and I watch as his eyes scan me, my entire being. Yep, rapist. This man has to be mid-twenties, and he's checking out a 16 year old girl? Definitely a rapist. Thanks for leading me here Ino. Oh damn.

"You must be Jo." The rapist knows my name! Shit. Shit. Shit. "Sit down." He gestures to a seat across from him. Shit. Shit. Shit. Do I listen and flip out or do I stay and have a good chance at running away? My eyes are still wide. The rapist sighs. "Ok… You must have a lot of questions." He pauses for my reaction. But my eyes are still wide; I'm silent.

"Ok. Well you're here in the Hidden Leaf Village, and please stop looking at me like that!"

"Huh?"

"Yes, I understand you're terrified, but please, I can't look at your face like that! You look like a kicked puppy!"

"Naruto, calm down, she has no reason to be scared." I turned in place and my mouth hung ajar at Shikamaru. Since when has he been there?

"You're ok!" I breathed out.

He chuckled. "Jo-san, I've been trained in combat. How wouldn't I have survived?"

"But, you…" I took a breath. "Go ask Ino or Sakura for the honorifics speech."

"What? The honorifics speech?"

"Yeah."

"Jo-san," The rapist has my attention again. "Shall we continue?" I nod. "All right." He took a deep breath. Did Shikamaru leave me? Damn him. "I'll just cut to the chase. I'm the Hokage- the kage of the land of fire- the strongest shinobi in the whole country-"

"Shinobi?"

"Ninja. I'm the strongest ninja in the land." Conceded much? "And I want you to attend the academy, where they train ninjas." What the fuck is this man saying? Did he not hear my inner rant about not killing a fly? "Don't give me that look until I'm done." I maneuvered my jaw so it resembled someone with an under bite and raised my eyebrows. "Thank you. Now what I'm saying is there's no way for you to live here without an occupation. If you train for this, I'll give you an apartment and money for necessities. If you make it, pass the test, there'll be more benefits." He paused to let me process. "Wha'cha think?"

"What do I think? Not only was I kidnapped by a psycho on my way home from a field trip, but I somehow ended up in a bizarre land where magic is commonly used to kill people rather than guns, and people are looking at me as if I'll go crazy and demolish everything in sight, and last, I'm being forced into the Goddamn military! How do you think someone who's passed out like 3 times in 2 days feels when their blood pressure is high like this!? Oh and I forgot to mention the kidnapping psycho tried to kidnap me again by trapping me like a fish. Do I look like a fucking fish to you?" Deep breaths- I took deep breaths. Calm yourself. Don't blow up like that. Calm down.

Then this freaking enigma chuckled. He fucking laughed. I shot him my best glare- completely not recovered from my blow-up.

This freaking man amazes me further: "I like you- you're different." Who tells someone they just met they liked them when they just flipped out? This man- the rapist, no the hokage- I gotta be careful of him.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, a lot's happened to you recently, but you ended your speech with being offended by someone comparing you to a fish. Not many people do that, let alone remember that." Yeah yeah, I remember lots of irrelevant things, I know, but will you please get to the point? "Jo-san, please take up my offer- there's nothing else you can do."

Processing. Processing. "The tests?"

"What about them?"

"You wanted tests taken; that's why I, we, came here."

"They'll be completed regardless."

"And I'm guessing everyone else is forced into this?"

"Everyone else? Hm, don't know yet, we'll need the tests for that." What the hell?

"And if they don't meet standards?"

"What? I guess we'll have to see what happens won't we?" This man… There are no words. "So, Jo-san, wha'cha say?"

"No honorifics." He gave me a O_O look. "Imma forget to use them, so we might as well be friends."

Hokage smiled. "'Course."

"Then I guess I have no choice."

"Really?"

I sighed. "Yeah."

Hokage jumped up, "Yes! Shikamaru, you were right! She agreed!"

Shikamaru poked his head in. "Of course she would. She has nothing; Jo's not stupid."

Processing. Shit, I've just been duped. Well damn.

"You're an ass." Hokage stopped celebrating and looked at me. "No, I don't mean you." He smiled a sparling smile. Is it ok to call this enigma loveable? 'Cuz I really want to right now.

"Now," Hokage started, "Let's get down to the tests."

**What do you think?  
**


	7. Shit Happens

I'm sitting, I'm sitting. Damn I'm bored. Where am I again? Oh yeah, the waiting room. I curse the day this thing was invented. Ugh!

The floor is made up of kitchen tiles that I imagine weren't made for a kitchen, but whatever. Add uninspiring white walls and I feel like I'm in the loony bin without a strait jacket. Well, hopefully they don't have one here, 'cuz with me sitting on the floor rather than the provided chairs is getting me plenty of looks- not that I didn't get any just standing outside, but that's beside the point.

A couple of conjoined chairs like the ones at a baseball stadium sit parallel to the walls except for the one facing the door because a counter is there. Nice comparison- a wacko house and a baseball stadium; I'm oozing with vibrant visuals. Other than the all-seeing eyes I shared, procrastination is something I wish was possible to share. If I were to be in school next year, senioritis would be inevitable.

Because of my procrastination, passing out, and feeling the need to cleanse myself, I don't see any familiar faces in this waiting room. I've been here for ten minutes and already feel the need to shoot myself. The best part: I was spacing out while Shikamaru brought me here; have no idea pertaining to my location, and how to return to Hokage's office. Eh, I'll just get someone to escort me. Not that I'll have to ask- all the daggerous looks tell me I won't be alone for a while.

Now Jo. An eternal question must be answered: how will you entertain yourself today? Because my attention span is that of a peanut, I've never had a too difficult time. Counting the tiles? That's unoriginal without pizazz- only a last resort.

Ok. Um… Damn my Dora-like bangs are in my face; I blow them out. Shit, they reverted. I groaned; then swiftly shook my head to a side. I smirk- much better. Oh. I shook my head so they were in my eyes again. Now Imma look like a loon, but, that's alright- I'll be too distracted to notice. Filling my lungs, I release a gust of wind aimed at my bangs. My eyes are transfixed on the object of my entertainment while I continuously blow at it.

Clear their throat- Ahem; I returned to reality and shifted my attention towards to source. With wide eyes; mouth slightly ajar, my position on the ground made me feel teeny.

"Miss, are you ready to begin?" Huh- I cocked my head. "Please follow me." The woman gestured for me to stand up; I complied. Are all the women here short as hell- she only went up to freaking my chin.

I was escorted through various hallways and the route is very uninteresting so Imma spare you the pain. Now I'm in another room equipped with various objects of whose purposes are unknown to me. All I really recognized are a treadmill and a scale- you know, like the ones at the doctor's office. The same tiles and bland walls as the waiting room, but a larger size further add disinterest into this building. Damn, these people must live very fulfilling lives.

As I entered all eyes locked onto me- the eyes of people I presume to be ninjas, that is. They all have headbands of various colors with a metal plate in the center; on said plate was a swirly mark and a triangle next to it. Why does it look so familiar? Eh, I'll figure it out later.

I turn around to see my escort has abandoned me; am I really that bad?

"Are you ready?" I swivel around to face a man with a clipboard in front of me. I nod hesitantly. "Well let's get to it then."

They ushered me onto a treadmill, and while this all happened, I noticed I was surrounded by men; all varying in size- some my height, some taller, a couple even pushed six feet; by a couple I mean like 2. They didn't bother give me clothes to change into first- they said I was fine in Ino's. I hope these blue sandals don't kill me.

I started walking slower than a turtle, and my strides were forcibly shorter to match. I made a face. After a couple minutes I lengthened my strides to adjust the track's quickening pace, but the speed at which I walked remained. Before I knew it I swung my arms like a jogger, reminding myself to keep my hands open and loose for better breathing- a technique my soccer coach told the team during our 2 mile warm-ups in the fall. Too bad it's not the fall; my school doesn't have spring soccer; I'm stupid enough not to go running.

My breathing soon turns labored as I struggled to keep up and my calves, along with feet, ached. The assholes should've let me stretch first. How much longer? Am I gonna keep going until I collapse? Sprint Jo, you're sprinting now, when was the last time you did that? Soccer season? I'm a slow sprinter, made for more long distance; my long thighs prove that. That's why archaeologists are starting to think the T-REX wasn't a predator, but a scavenger- he couldn't out run his prey so he had a mean face to scare them away; his shins matched his arms. I squinted my eyes, oh God.

And then, my feet slid from under me and my ass landed on the floor. I let my back rest on the tiles as I tried to catch my breath and allow my muscles to relax.

"Here." The same man gave me a bottle of water. "We'll begin the next test once your breathing's settled."

"What?" I gasped. He looked at me. "You. Should've told me. I was, gonna sprint." I took a deep breath. "I could've pulled something!"

"Pull something?" I wanted to spit on his indifferent face.

Daggers released from my eyes as I spoke: "Yes asshole, do you want me to pull a muscle?"

"Pull a muscle? What are you talking about?" With his furrowed eyebrows I knew his wasn't joking. Oh God, is everyone here clueless?

"I could've messed up my muscles," I explained slowly. "My calves, they sting. I should've stretched before and after running that vigorously." I closed my eyes, and cocked my head further back onto the tiles. By now my breathing was calm.

"How could you have 'messed up your muscles?'" May I please shoot him?

I sat up and locked eyes with him. He had light, sky blue eyes and they poured into me. "I don't study that kind of stuff. All I know is my legs kill, and it's gonna be a bitch to walk for a while, hell stretching is gonna hurt 'cause I didn't do it before by no fault of my own." All I got was a look- a blank one. "Is there any test where I can just sit here? At least for a couple minutes?"

Commence puppy dog face. Please, please, please, please! I widened my eyes as much as I could and I must say this guy is doing a good job at not breaking. "Please?" I whispered.

He sighed. "All right." I smirked at my success.

They brought over a small device with old- fashioned headphones attached. You know- the ones with the bar that goes over your head and they have cushion-like thingys over your ear. Yeah, I'm not good at describing things.

While they walked over, I decided to quickly stretch a smidge. I reached my hands over to my toes, and winced at the pain. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… And I gave up, releasing early. My eyes squinted as the man regained my attention.

"You'll raise your hand when you hear a sound. Whatever ear you hear it from will be represented by the hand you lift up."

I nodded; then place the headphones over my ears. Now wait. It took a minute, but soon heard a beep from my left ear. I lifted the corresponding hand. There were multiple beeps; in various levels of loudness- some almost turned me deaf, while others were barely louder than a whispering mouse.

"All right, you're done." He reached to pull the headphones off of me, but I swatted his hand away.

"There was another beep."

He hesitated before answering, "From which side?"

"In front."

"Hm."

They had me breathing into a tube, and it reminded me of a breathalyzer; I assure you I'm not drunk- hell I've only have like a couple glasses of wine on New Year's. After that all hell started: acupuncture.

Who wouldn't freak out with freaking needles inside them? 'Course it didn't hurt, until they tested my pain tolerance. It was so low they ran out of options (more like gave up) for testing those sensitive nerves, my luck. They then checked my eyesight and my lack of sense of smell.

Lastly, they gave me a small piece of paper. "What do I do with this?"

"Just hold it out in your palm."

"Like this?" I held the small parchment in my open palm. I looked up for confirmation and saw the man nod. Returning my gaze towards the paper, I raised my eyebrows when nothing happened. Is something supposed to happen? "If something's supposed to happen, we're going to be here all day- I assure you I don't possess magic."

I flinched when I felt something stab itself into my leg. I looked down and saw an acupuncture needle protruding out of my skin and flesh. "Was that necessary?" I made a face when I was hushed and reluctantly returned my gaze to the paper. Then, the paper started to sweat; an instant later, it wrinkled- as if I crumbled it and opened it again, but I assure you I didn't- I'm just sitting here. Next, it ripped. It freaking ripped in two! One of the halves burned into char while the other crumbled into dirt.

What is this blasphemy? Did I see things? God, am I really in need of a strait jacket? I knew I was crazy, but this is ridiculous! Paper can't do whatever it just did by itself, I must've hallucinated.

"I'm sorry, I need another piece of paper; the other one disappeared." Insert sheepish smile.

"No, we're done here."

"What?"

"We're done." He walked over and pulled the needle out of my leg. "Please escort her to the Hokage along with this." He handed another man a clip board that seemed to be overflowing with paper. I hissed as I stood up, and limped after my escort.

* * *

"All right," Hokage stated, "thanks for agreeing to all this."

"Well there's nothing else for me to do. I mean-"I was interrupted with a knock on the door.

"Sorry. Come in."

"Naruto," Shikamaru didn't waste a breath, "did you really enroll all of them into the academy?!"

"Yes." Neither did Hokage.

"Why? Why would you do that? Did you forget about the alliance?" An alliance, I wonder which countries. I really need to see a map of this place.

"No." Such an indifferent face; a raised eyebrow makes me believe Hokage wants Shikamaru to humor him.

"You do realize the council wants to speak to you about this. Now." There's a council?

Hokage groaned. "Don't remind me. I scheduled a meeting for an hour from now."

"You scheduled a meeting?"

"You act so surprised." Hokage rested a palm against his head.

"Because I am."

"Shikamaru, I'm not the kid I was when I first got this position- I'm aware of my responsibilities." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know, I'm beginning to scare myself. " He cleared his throat. "Is there anything else?"

Shikamaru finally noticed me sitting in the chair across from Hokage. "It can be dealt with later."

Hokage nodded, Shikamaru nodded- acknowledging my presence, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"You invited everyone else too?" I asked. He nodded. "Is that why this council is pissed off?"

Another nod. "Yeah, after the last shinobi war all the five great nations united into an alliance and in order to keep said alliance every nation has a representative in every respective village."

"Oh. And they want to discuss us because it's not fair unless you share?"

"I'll discuss that with them. Now I'll have someone escort you to you temporary residence"

"Temporary?"

"I don't know what'll happen at the meeting."

"Ah."

* * *

"Here you are."

I nod my appreciation, wrap my hand around the knob, and push it open. A shriek of what sounded like my name startled me from moving out of the door frame. Soon I was engulfed with loss of breath as Kim's limbs squeezed the daylights out of me. "Nice to see you too."

Kim rested her head under mine for a moment. "Jo, why is it you're always so warm?"

I chuckled, well attempted to chuckle. "Kim, I can't breathe."

She released and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

I produced another chuckle. "So how're things going? You staying here too?"

"Yep, and Issac and Mou."

"Issac and Mou?"

"Yep, they apparently don't understand what could possibly go wrong with this, what's the word, arrangement."

A chuckle. "You yelled at them?"

"She did," Mou popped up from behind me; his deep voice loud. He chuckled as I took a deep breath. "Never gets old."

"Ass."

"Yes, I have one, and so do you, as well as Kim and Issac, and, well, all of mankind."

I put on a sour face and finally walked out of the doorframe; then threw myself onto a couch. Groaning, I stretched my back; then sat up and began messaging my aching calves- wait, did anyone else get hurt? Nothing- everyone was acting like normal- why the hell is everyone so chill?

"Kim, did they make you run, I mean did you sprint on a treadmill?" I coked my head as I looked up at her back while she was, what I presumed to be, making food.

"Well, I was on a treadmill, but um…" she paused, and I barely heard her mumble the following words: "I lost my footing and tripped."

I took a moment to process; then burst out into a fit of laughter. "You tripped? But, you're Kim."

"I know."

"You're the most coordinated person I know!" I gasped for air; my smirk evident.

"Yeah, yeah, are you done?"

"No." I giggled a little more only to flinch, produce a "nyahh"-like sound and convulse into the fetal position.

"She's done." I could sense Issac smirking.

"I hate you."

"Don't care." When I looked up and locked eyes with him, his smirk irritated me to no end.

"Yes you do."

"You can't prove that."

"Not yet I can't."

At that, Issac then burst into his own five minutes of laughter. I looked back at Kim and saw Mou now standing next to her, one hand on a paper; the other on his chin. Damn, he had to be at least a foot taller than her. I released a small giggle.

Their brown eyes gazed upon our- Issac and me- laughing forms. "Are they ok?" Mou asked.

"Who knows?"

One deep breath, I forced myself to stop laughing- my cheeks hurt like hell. "What're we gonna eat Kimmy?"

"Um."

"We're not sure- we need to go out and buy ingredients," Mou interjected.

"'Kay, but do we have money?" I asked.

"The guy outside could give us some." I twirled and saw Issac standing at the windowsill.

My eyes widened. "What?"

"There's some dude standing at the door to the apartment- the one who walked you here."

"Do they not trust us?!" I felt the vein in my neck throb.

"I guess not," Kim wiped her hands on her shorts and sighed.

I groaned. Kim walked over, extended her arms, I took them; she pulled me up. "Do I have to go?" I almost pulled something."

Issac sighed, "Jo, it's a good excuse to explore the village."

"We can ignore the watchdog, but it'd be more fun to ditch him." Mou smirked, at which I raised an eyebrow.

"You that bored Mou?"

He snorted; his big nostrils somehow grew momentarily. "It'll add a nice kick."

"Hah." I leaned my head back; it's a popcorn ceiling. "Fine, but if I can't walk tomorrow, I expect one of you to carry me." I pointed my index at all of them.

Issac chuckled. "No promises."

I pouted as Kim dragged me through the threshold, Issac and Mou not far behind. We went down a couple of flights of stairs and when I stopped Issac bumped into me; then Mou into him. Basically we all landed at the bottom of the staircase on top of each other: Kim on the bottom, me on her, Issac sat on me, and of course the biggest oaf on top.

"What the hell Jo?" Issac hissed when Mou got off of him.

"No my fault you weren't holding onto the railing!"

"No, why the hell did you stop in the middle of the staircase?!"

"Oh that." I sighed as I rolled off of Kim. "Sorry, I just thought of something."

"And you had to stop in the middle of walking?" Mou rubbed his head.

"Habit." I looked up at him. "Sorry. But I thought you wanted to lose the warden. How do you propose we do that?"

Mou thought for a moment, a hand held his chin. "Not sure." I gaped at him. Seriously? "How 'bout we go on the roof?"

"You expect me to go roof hopping?" I eyed him- there's no way he's serious, either that or he doesn't know me that well; it's probably the latter.

"Oh come on, it's only 2 houses."

"And how do you suggest we get down? I don't know about you, but I don't want to kill myself!"

"Please, nothing'll happen; it'll all go smooth."

I gaped at this giant. "You don't know me at all."

"Jo, don't be such a wuss." Mou raised his eyebrows and lowered his head.

"Mou, I'll sit this one out."

"Pussy," he teased.

"Uh, Mou, I think she's right," God bless Issac's soul.

Mou gasped, "She's corrupted you man!"

"No, actually, she's the most accident prone being alive."

"And I thought you'd have caught on by now," Kim nodded. "Do you not know how many times she's been in a hospital in the past forty-eight hours?"

"One for each day," I inserted. "And that's not healthy at all." I shook my head and smiled sheepishly as Mou processed this information.

"But dude, I'm fine with it, hell it sounds awesome, but Jo might kill herself in the process."

"Oh that reminds me!" All eyes switched to me. "They want me to train for their military."

Issac groaned. "Jo, don't tell me you accepted." I said nothing; at which he groaned again. "You dumbass, you could get yourself killed!"

"Oh and you're ok with your soul leaving your body?" He gave me a blank look. "Hokage told me everyone accepted his request. And Kim," I turned to face her, "I never would've thought you'd agree!"

"Jo," she sighed.

Mou chuckled, and I looked at him with utter shock. "Well since we're all stuck here in this predicament, why don't we go and see what we got ourselves into?" I cocked my head and raised an eyebrow. "If we can escape without anyone hurting themselves and not get caught, we're set for this training."

"You really want to do this?" I asked him.

"Hell yeah."

I let out a breath. "Well how do you propose we do this, and get money from Hokage? I'm not a strategist, so you guys can have fun with it." I smirked.

"Jo, you're not serious," Kim frowned.

"Well, look at it this way, I'm bored, and hungry. It'll kill two birds with a stone."

"Alright," Issac conceded. Mou lit up, then pouted his big lip in hopes of convincing Kim.

"Oh fine."

"Oh, and Jo, you'd be a fine strategist," Mou started, "You did a good job figuring out what we should do and helped us when we ran into the guys from the port village."

"I'm a selfless camper," I shrug.

Mou chuckled, and pulled us into a huddle. "Alright, here's the plain."

* * *

"And break!"

"Go Patriots!" I yell.

"Jo, focus," Kim hissed. Right. Focus.

Kim went downstairs, while Mou jogged back up; Issac and I stayed put.

"Jo," he started. I locked eyes with him; the color reminded me of caramel. "You're a dumbass."

I feigned a look of hurt, and I know he didn't buy it. "Thanks for hurting my feelings."

"Jo, what the hell convinced you it'd be ok, that you could possibly benefit from, joining the military in a foreign place?!"

I groaned. This again? "Issac, tell me, why did you agree?"

"Because I was going to join the army after graduation, and I thought 'what difference does it make if I start now?'" He didn't miss a beat.

I sighed. "Well, how do you expect we'll get back if you're the only one doing anything? How," I stumbled into English, "could we make money when the people here are terrified of me- us? Do you expect me to just sit here, in this house, and die of boredom? At least this way I'll get something accomplished, at least if I die, I can say 'oh well, I tried.' But do you seriously think I'd die that easily?

"Do you want me to die quickly? I'm not the little girl who cried in fucking elementary school anymore! I've grown; I've learned life sucks; I've actually managed to say 'well shit happens!' You don't know everything about me, we've grown apart- high school separated our friendship, maybe puberty played a part in it. But damn, I understand that lots of shit's happened recently, along with everyone dying, but life moves on! Shit happens; we have to build a bridge and get over it." I took a deep breath and continued to yell at him.

"I've never gotten pissed at you for saying you wanted to go into the military. What would you do if I got drafted? Would you know? Would we even still talk after high school? I don't know; we barely talk now as it is. But tell me, how would I support myself if we never managed to get back? Do you really expect me to believe some little store will hire me? There's no way to become successful- there's no way I can get used to this place until I know about it! This training, what'd Hokage call it? The academy? The academy is supposed to train people to be in the military. Doesn't that include maps? Shouldn't history be involved? You know how much I hate history, but I'm willing to push that aside to figure out how not to die!" I took deep breaths to calm myself.

Standing up, I spared him a look- the stairs were more interesting- and mumbled a "sorry" the proceeded to walk to our room so I can steady my heartbeat.

"Jo," Issac called. I ignored him; I gotta. I just blew up- I vented- and need to go to my own little world to figure things out for a moment. I need to calm down.

Why did I flip out? I don't do that- my temper is pretty high. But still, he should be able to accept my choices. I'm not stupid; I know what could happen- I know the probability of dying here just skyrocketed, but that's my problem. I can't let him talk me out of it- I know he'll try. For once in your life Jo, you can't back down on a decision- you've got to follow through. I need, what do I need? I need to just ignore everyone, no matter how hard. I need…

After finishing the last flight of stairs, I found a nice corner, one free of cobwebs, and situated myself into it. I hugged my knees to my chest and snuggled my head so it rested on them. I grabbed as much hair as I could into my hands and just breathed. I breathed slow, full, emotionless, thoughtless breaths.

Damn, I hate blowing up like that. All this, this… I need to get out- to leave, but to do that I'd go down stairs, past Issac, and loose myself in a sea of people who give me looks and whisper. That'd be worse. But I want to feel the grass; to lay on it- I want to just look up into the sky and reassure myself this place is real- that the clouds make individual shapes and their background remains blue. I want to reassure myself I can get home and see my ungrateful sister and my mother who cares more for her than me. I want to be somewhere I know; this change scares me. I'm pathetic.

"Jo?" Kim's voice. I heard her walk towards me. Why didn't I hear her walking up the stairs? "Jojo? You ok?" I heard the floor creak when she squatted down in front of me. "You know he didn't mean to offend you." So he sent you to check if things were ok. "Issac, he, you know you're one of his bestest buddies. You gotta know he's worried about you; we all are." Classic line- nice originality Kim. "Come on, let's get some food, it doesn't matter if we're being stalked or not."

I sighed and looked at her. "Fine."

She pulled me up, and I looked at the staircase to see Mou standing at its foot. "We're being called."

I furrowed my brows. "Where?"

"To meet with um, the guy in charge."

I nodded. "Come on Jo, Mr. Hokage is calling for us." Kim linked arms with me, and pulled me towards the stairs.

"Kay."

* * *

"How are you all?" Hokage asked. Silence. I'm amazed at how many people have managed to fit inside this room. He cleared his throat. "I see, well I've returned from a meeting with the council." He paused. "You're all… Going to.." He groaned.

"You'll be split up," Shikamaru broke the ice.

I processed this, but Jenny broke me to it. "What?"

Shikamaru sighed. "You're all aware the five great nations are in an alliance, and as an alliance, we are equal in military power. It wouldn't be fair if we got all of you- if you're the best we've had, or even if you're handicaps. Each ambassador voted for splitting you up, and how it'll be done." He paused to take a breath.

Hokage resumed the speech, "Because there's an indivisible about of you, you'll either be in groups of three of four. These are your groups…"

Well shit.

**another new chapter! thanks for reading :)**


End file.
